Krait book 15c Duels and Divination at Durmstrang
by slytherinsal
Summary: Following the successes of the limited divination used by the Durmstrang Marauders, Agata Bacso persuades the governors to employ a divination teacher. Agata could not have forseen the trouble this teacher would cause! However the skills developed by the pupils justify the continuation of this class. A Duelling contest and Russian supremacists add to the excitement
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Zoltan and his half brother Sigismund were looking forward to going back to school.

Sigismund had come to stay in the castle belonging to Zoltan's stepmother's parents in Germany after Cacilia had birthed their twin half-sisters named Agata and Nefrita. Mother Cacilia had declared that the twins were not identical; but as Zoltan said to Sigismund, you could have fooled him. They both looked as red and wrinkled one as the other; and both had tufts of red hair.

Sigismund regarded the babies judiciously.

"One of them is darker red than the other" he said "And maybe they'll turn out to have different coloured eyes. And I think that one has a shorter nose, but I might be fooling myself."

Zoltan chuckled.

"I think they both look like the bald and pink Herr Examiner who came; the one whose eyebrows are too pale to show" he said.

"ALL babies look like that" said Sigismund "I remember the younger of my siblings – my adoptive siblings – looking the same. They get interesting in a year or so."

"When do your siblings come in?" asked Zoltan.

"Klarisza next year and Vitóz the year after" said Sigismund "And they'll have left by the time these sprouts go up. We shall have to cultivate juniors with long families who are suitable to Maraud whose younger siblings will be able to take the twins as fags. And I say, I think I shall ask Wencelada to take Klarisza as her fag because Wencelada is cool as well as being blood group and she'll be in the lower sixth then. And I say, we ARE supposed to be looking out for people Viktor Krumm asked the old folk to keep an eye out for; the children of the brother of his friend Polina Ivanova who used to play Chaser for Bulgaria. And it strikes me that if the kid we're looking out for is all right and has all right siblings, they'll be able to take care of the twins in their turn."

"That's not a half bad thought" said Zoltan "Are we collecting er, Ilarion Ivanov?" he recalled the name their father had mentioned.

"Not hardly!" said Sigismund "WHO are the senior Bulgarians in the school? Only the Asimov twins! And if the kid's worth corrupting into being a marauder I expect Zlatko and Zlatka will have done it already! There's two other Bulgarians in the school also, Diliana Zhikova in the, er, fifth, now, and her sister Bianka a year younger. Viktor wanted marauders closer to him in age to sort him out was all, if he needed sorting. And I guess Viktor and Lydia will breed soon too, and then Agata and Nefrita will be looking out for THEIR kids."

"If they send them to Durmstrang not to Hogwarts" said Zoltan.

"Dad said, Viktor said he wants to make sure that Durmstrang keeps on the straight and level by having hereditary marauders in constant supply" said Sigismund. "And apparently if you can credit it to give opposition to Jade Luytens' children in Triwizard competitions."

"Hah! As if we shan't have siblings ready to do that!" declared Zoltan.

"Too right!" agreed Sigismund and they high-fived each other.

oOoOo

It had been for each of them a good holiday; and Sigismund had come for the last week of the holiday to see his brother and new sisters and to make it more convenient for returning to school to which Attila Nagy and his wife Cacilia Von Freyer Nagy would side-along apparate them – officially anyhow since the blooded boys were capable of doing it for themselves – as the only Hungarians currently in the school. Attila would leave them in the Lodge where the children met up before being taken on to the school proper; it had fallen to the Herbology Professor, Kunegunde Kluba to be in charge in the Lodge this September; she having lost the draw of cards with which the staff determined whose duty it should be. Madam Kluba quite liked the half brothers for the interest they had taken in Herbology; though she might have been less sanguine over their industry had she realised that their industry had been purely with one end in mind; the production of a heavily enchanted maze to form part of the defences of the school and a place in which to have endless and usually nefarious amusement for Marauders. As she did NOT know, she smiled warmly at the boys when Attila brought them in early and demanded a cuddle of the babies that were strapped firmly to Cacilia's chest.

Cacilia was not about to antagonise anyone unnecessarily and Agata and Nefrita were duly passed over to the older woman to coo over with all the adoration of babies so many aging maiden women manage.

"My dear, I do hope you can manage to deal with their needs and teaching too; I don't believe anyone has ever done it before" said Madam Kluba, worried "Most people stop teaching when they wed; certainly if they are in the family way."

"Oh but it has been done before; frequently" said Cacilia "None of my English friends would dream of giving up teaching when they may have their children close to them; save Krait Malfoy-Snape who gave up for a term or two when she was ill with one of her pregnancies. There's nothing out of the ordinary; I have a family elf who will care for them when I am in lessons so I do not have to be a drain on the resources of the castle elves. And I can always leave them with Tildi; Clovis is a close friend of mine, you know! Their Little Clovis is old enough to be less hard work and Radagas is old enough to take an interest."

Professor Kluba pursed her lips.

"It was very compassionate of Clovis to adopt that goblin boy, but do you think… I mean, to let him have anything to do with your children….."

"And why should he not?" said Cacilia "He's a nice child; he'd not want to be saddled with them indefinitely, but I dare swear he'd not object to a little extra pocket money for baby sitting like any child his age. At nine he's quite old enough to be capable you know!"

Professor Kluba had not meant to disparage the boy's age; but like all of the casually racist she could not see that a goblin could be trustworthy; and hoped fervently that poor dear Cacilia would not regret trusting her dear little babies to him.

"Radagas is cool" said Zoltan "I wish he could come to Durmstrang with us when he's old enough; he'd be a grand Marauder!"

"He can be a grand Marauder in Jade's school or Prince Peak" said Attila calmly. "Come, Cacilia; re-pack the small smells and we'll get on to the school without embarrassing Zoltan by our presence as more people turn up."

The Transfigurations professor ruffled his sons' hair and left them to the shocked Madam Kluba who could hardly credit that nice pure blood young wizards should even suggest having a goblin within the hallowed halls of Durmstrang as a pupil!

oOoOo

The Romanian contingent were the first to arrive, which meant two marauders among its number, Corneliu and Beryx yodelling cheerfully to their friends to the disapproval of Nikolai Nagy, the oldest Romanian boy and no relation to Attila and his sons. Felicks Knapp arrived shortly thereafter; and though not a marauder, Zoltan counted the musical boy a friend and he greeted him warmly. And shortly behind him were three marauders, Lindhard, Beremud and Bronislava, who travelled together now Bronislava lived with her brother, full of the news that she had felt her goblin friend Grelleg being blooded since the other school started back a little early and she was really glad that he was now their blood brother.

"You love us best though, don't you?" said Zoltan.

She laughed.

"Of course I do!" she said. "My Marauder group! But I spend the hols with Grelleg as well as Beremud and it's really nice that he's now a brother too so we can do marauder things in the hols, and Lindhard when he can catch the train into Neubrandenburg. We felt the babies arrive though Cacilia – Professor Von Freyer I should say – was blocking; what are they like?"

"Red and wrinkled and they smell but they'll grow out of it" said Zoltan cheerfully.

oOoOo

The Bulgarian contingent arrived next; the Asimov twins in obvious charge of the two small people and Diliana keeping young Bianka, her sister in check. Bianka was a year above the Musical Marauders, in a class with the Jade Fag Marauders of whom she was NOT an intimate, though her older sister was accounted mostly harmless. Penka Giorgieva was in the same class as the Musical Marauders and she too was under Diliana's watchful eye; which pleased her classmates who considered her hard and nasty.

In addition to the small boy who was presumably Ilarion there was too a small girl. Zlatko looked around and whistled for the Musical Marauders, all of whom were now foregathered.

"Here, brats, this is Ilarion Ivanov and this is Nedelya Grgica and Nedelya is sulking faintly that we don't have stables at school for her precious horses so I've suggested she write to her parents and ask to transfer to Prince Peak or Schloss Adler; she doesn't give a toss about goblins so long as she gets to ride."

"My parents will care though" said Nedelya sadly "They don't think goblins would be quite nice to know. I get on just fine with our goblin grooms though, who know what they're talking about so what's the difference? It's not like goblins are a huge lot different to humans is it?"

"Ah, a girl after our own heart!" said Sigismund. "Ilarion, we've got parents who know Viktor Krumm so we're sort of told off to be people for you to run to if the inimitable Zlatko should prove too lordly a sixth former who's about to get voted in as Head Boy if I know how the Eulenspiegel twins are going to run their canvassing. We're Marauders; Marauders fix problems and sort out bullies and things. And that goes for someone who cares less about race who we'll also be adopting" he added smiling at Nedelya

"What do you mean, sort out problems and fix bullies?" demanded Nedelya "Don't prefects do that?"

"Well yes; but then there's marauders for things people don't necessarily want to take to prefects" said Sigismund.

"We fight for justice and fairness in all ways" said Beremud "And Marauders who left school set up the free school for good education for all and we want to work on changing attitudes and teaching people that everyone's the same."

"Well it does rather stand to reason, doesn't it?" said Nedelya "If you couldn't see who you were talking to I bet you couldn't tell if you were talking to a goblin, a mud blood or a pure blood or if you stuck to subjects they knew about probably even a muggle. And if there was a spell to hide the squeakiness of the voice, an elf for that matter; our family elf is quite as knowledgeable as anyone and he scolds quite as much as any grown up."

"You've got a decent family then actually" said Zoltan "We've heard of families whose elves are so downtrodden they speak only in the third person and cringe a lot and won't volunteer opinions. And actually the elves belonging to the school were so cowed by the previous head they're only just starting to recover; and one of them was made to bury herself alive for reading in the library. He was an AWFUL man and such a bully; and so bigger Marauders imprisoned his spirit in a portrait and buried it so he got a taste of own back. That was Zlatko, Zlatka and the Owlglasses; but it was still a Marauder thing. They told us about it. And Madam Bacsó has specifically given permission to the elves to read if they've finished their work. One day, Marauders are going to free house elves; when they're ready to be free. Same as Marauders lifted the compulsion to self punish; and look at it this way – if every time you resented something your parents said you had to bang your head on the floor or burn yourself you'd be a pretty poor sap. And that's what had been done to elves."

"It is RIGHT that slavery should be abolished!" declared Ilarion "How do we get to be Marauders?"

"They'll do" said Lindhard.

"What you do" said Bronislava "Is to declare the intention to Maraud, you two; and bond together and seek out if there are others who feel right to work with; and stand together against those who would throw their weights around. Nationality and race do not matter, not that there's any real race issue here. But if you become true Marauders, if we invite you fully in, you will have brothers and sisters – because we are a family – all over Europe who are goblins, part goblins, muggle-born, elves, part elves and so on; cured werewolves, rakshasa, fey; all sorts. We shall educate you about such manner of people" she added as they looked confused.

"Good; we shall then look for other Marauders" said Nedelya "Come on Ilarion; let us observe all new ones and see what we think."

"How will we tell they are first years?" asked Ilarion.

"DURR! New uniform, looking a bit lost, staring around like we did because the place is new!" said Nedelya "I guess if we can Maraud I shan't mind AS much about not being able to ride but I don't half resent it all the same!"

oOoOo

Because Zoltan counted Herman Langstab, like Felicks, as a friend and Periklis Theodrakos too, he firmly introduced their respective little brothers to Yorick Thorwaldsen now in the lower sixth to be his fags. Yorick's sister Sofie was a Marauder and Yorick was decent enough if rather blunt; and would never make a push for himself to grab a fag. In the same way, Sigismund deposited the sister of Alois Dunkelschwann, who was harmless, on Gisela Schutzmann who was an austere and self sufficient body and would not mind if her fag were as inefficient and dim as the child's brother, Alois. Xanthos Theodrakis was not the only first year from Greece; a little girl called Malina Doukos was also along and as she explained firmly to a boy who seemed to be organising fagging that she should be placed with someone whose blood was as pure as her own near pure blood, Zoltan took a dislike to her immediately.

"Well you ain't in my remit" he said "So go pick yourself a stuck up sixth former to go with your stuck up self; I'm doing a favour for a friend, kiddo, not running after every brat who happens across my path. Try Aglaia Hallow; because she'd actually like care if you're descended from Circe because she's descended from one of her swine."

"Blunt" said Periklis. He was a year below Zoltan since Zoltan had worked for his remove but was devoted to the Musical Marauders who had arranged to have his hearing problems sorted out with chanting.

"I don't much like blood snobs" shrugged Zoltan.

"I suppose you're barely a step from being a muggle" sneered Malina.

"Actually" said Zoltan sweetly "I'm pure blood; but I don't let irrelevancies like that interfere with my friendships."

Needless to say, Malina was NOT one chosen by the incipient marauders.

Her countryman was another matter.

Xanthos had the look about him that spelled determination; and the Bulgarian children leaped on him and asked him what he knew about Marauding and was he up for it knowing that it meant being friendly with goblins and up for elf rights and so on.

Xanthos had never considered goblin and elf rights but he was ready to listen; his family was not as pure blooded as some and he did not consider he was a worse wizard than any who were pure so he was prepared to accept that blood status and race were fairly immaterial.

oOoOo

The only other younger sibling to arrive this year was Shazia Malik; Zoltan did not feel a particular friend to Zahid, who had initially backed the revolting Zsombor Czerny. However, they had taken the Pakistani boy under their wing and he HAD moved into the dormitory with Zoltan's other friends when he moved out so as not to fall prey to the rather parochial German contingent of that year. Zoltan duly deposited the girl on Scholastica Uccello. Shazia seemed a quiet enough child with a determination to do well; and to have a protector was quite important for a girl who had the slight deformity of webs to her hands.

The new Marauder group however rejected her; they thought she had a hardness to her and she was never even asked if she knew about Marauders. They did not ask Renate Dunkelschwann either since Nedelya declared that she had the look of 'all the candles lit but no-one at home'; and Laurenz Langstab was a worthy looking youth who was NOT the sort to be getting into trouble. As Ilarion said, finding those who felt right was easier said than done.

And at that, had he but known it, he was in a better case than Zoltan had been, having found no marauding fellows in his own class, the reason he had worked for his remove to join his half brother and HIS group.

They rejected three more girls who were ethnic Germans out of hand as stuck up and probably blood snobs; and presented the aims of the Marauders to a fourth German girl who looked on the world with wide and interested eyes.

"You actually mean that?" asked Marlene Weisskessel intently after they had introduced themselves and explained their aims.

"Yes we do" said Nedelya.

"What would you then say if I told you I am a part goblin?" asked Marlene.

"Goodness! How did you con the school into taking you?" asked Ilarion.

"My parents did not tell them" said Marlene calmly "My papa married one of the workers on the line of the factory he owns. Mama is one eighth goblin. If the authorities find out and kick up a stink I am to go to the new school but papa and mama want to see if I can't prove to be as good as anyone else here and then I shall tell them when I leave just to cock a snoot at the system."

"She'll do" said Ilarion.

"Excuse me" another girl leaned over "I have heard some of what you said; and you are right. It is time to stop being old fashioned. I should like to be a part too of your society to change things."

"It's about being really ready to put your money where your mouth is and accept that in English schools there are goblin and elves and other sorts of people as Marauders who will be our brothers" said Nedelya.

"And in my country we have a creep called Klaas De Witt and I should like to do anything that runs counter to what HE believes" said the girl "And my name is Daffodil. Daffodil Steen."

"Welcome aboard then Daffodil" said Ilarion "And I say, Xanthos, we appear to be outnumbered by girls."

Xanthos shrugged and grinned.

"I expect we'll survive" he said "And when we get old enough to have to do squishy things like dance with them, at least it gives us a choice."

"There is that" admitted Ilarion.

There were no others who caught their eye; and the Bulgarian pair and cronies reported that their Marauding group was five strong.

"An excellent number" said Sigismund "The fourth have a group of four; we're a big group of seven because Broni joined later and we stole Zoltan from the year below us and made him catch up to be with us. The rule is, total truth within Marauding; no secrets. You may want to keep that just in your own group for now, but any troubles you lot have, you share with us and we sort it. You work as a self-help group and help each other out with weaknesses in class and help other oiks that need it as will accept help. Look for secret passages. Consider the castle in terms of how you would defend it from attack. Practice spells and jinxes; and above all join the English Customs Club."

Xanthos had already broached the ECC to the others and they nodded solemnly. They would have a lot to do!

"Is it likely the castle might be attacked?" asked Daffodil.

"It has been" said Sigismund "We'll tell you more about stuff like that as you settle in; but dark wizards do like the idea of trying to control schools and thus train up minions. And some people who got expelled can get stroppy and vindictive you know."

"Oh, yes; I can see De Witt doing that if he could get the support" said Daffodil. "We shall then need to read about defending castles."

"Library work; you can't beat it" grinned Sigismund.

oOoOo

The Musical Marauders amused themselves by seeing who the new prefects were – which was the Eulenspiegel twins, Scholastica, Adolf Zollschange and Alexand Amsel; generally speaking the latter three would follow the lead of the Eulenspiegel girls but just to make sure, the marauders made sure to explain that in the view of the lower school, Zlatko Asimov would make the best head boy out of a rather decent set of upper sixth prefects none of whom would do a bad job at all but after all, to whom did everyone turn to sort things out.

As Gisela Schutzmann said, there was no point voting for anyone else because Zlatko was one of those people who sort of automatically ran things anyway.

"You WERE our second choice" said Sigismund "Zlatka could lead but you WILL lead."

"Thanks" said Gisela, feeling almost foolish that she should feel pleased that third years should feel her the best second choice. Still, the opinions of the lower school DID count; an unpopular choice could cause a lot of trouble!

The Musical Marauders also firmly undermined the power of the sixth by informing sundry new children that they did not HAVE to accept fagship with the first upper school oik who asked – and especially if the asking was by way of demanding – and they could actually refuse to be a fag at all but it helped to make good contacts and if in doubt they should ask to think things over and check with those in the know which elderly types they did NOT want to fag for. This being so they proceeded to arrange most of the younger ones to fag for those of the sixth – and the fifth – that they liked leaving them with two or three fags each, and those the marauders did NOT like without any, except Harald Trollkettil who had already extracted the promise to fag from his small countryman, lad named Max Varghund whose family knew Harald's and who hoped that Harald would see that he got some quidditch games in against the first seven.

It came as a shock to him when the marauders told him that Harald had only served on the first seven for a portion of the last year having been slung off for bad attitude and poor play.

They left him plotting revenge against his man.

It only remained to drop the fluorescent fart jinx onto Harald and onto Aglaia Hallow just because they did not like her.

oOoOo

Once the journey to the dark, forbidding castle had been completed the school assembled in the great hall for the welcoming speech from Madam Bacsó. Sigismund was very proud of his mother and her dignity as she addressed them all and welcomed them back.

"You may be pleased to know that Zlatko Asimov has been voted head boy; and that an idea he suggested in passing last year has been implemented" said Agata "He suggested a duelling match with Prince Peak; and I have been in contact with Professor Snape who suggested making the match three way, by inviting in the Cheesteeykrovy Shkola Koldoovstvoy to participate. Now you may recall how ill-mannered the Russian school was when we played them at quidditch; I anticipate that we shall have an enjoyable match against the children of Prince Peak and I shall take it as the patriotic duty of the duelling team to thoroughly show up the Russians. We SHALL show every courtesy to the visiting Prince Peak team regardless of race; if they send any goblins or part goblins we will show them as much courtesy as to humans to show that OUR manners are impeccable. It has been proven that goblins are as educable as humans; Durmstrang reflects the preferences of those families who prefer not to have their offspring educated alongside goblins and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. That does NOT mean however that we should behave as barbarians to those of schools whose philosophy is different. We have seen what it is like to be on the receiving end of the incredible blood snobbery of the Russians and how such blood snobbery robbed them of the simple courtesies any highborn should take for granted. However well we perform against Prince Peak does not matter; we and they will do our best and we should be very well matched. Crush the Russians, my children; crush the Russians."

The school cheered, some with more enthusiasm than others when taking on board the possibility of having to be polite to goblins.

The Musical Marauders grinned. It had been their spell – the putrid popping pustule curse, where pustules burst with a simultaneous summoning of maggots into the exploding pustules – which had completed the humiliation of the Russian Quidditch team after their rudeness, since they had needed to beg for aid to have the curse removed.

The Musical Marauders LOVED chanting.

oOoOo

It may be said that the top duellists in the school loved chanting too, and Zlatko had every expectation of being chosen to be one of the duellists; and planned to hold up the end of Takeo Namudzu, whose strength of will the Bulgarian boy admired.

Madam Bacsó herself, as a one-time duelling champion, organised the duelling club though she left picking the team to Clovis Gierek so there could be no accusations of favouritism or fixing when she came to referee the match. She suggested sweetly that a representative from each school should be sent to judge points on style since this was outside the purview of a referee; it should even things up. It was embarrassing to recall that when there was the match against Beauxbatons and Hogwarts the marking had been blatantly unfair on the part of her own school; because nobody knew any better than to use the advantage of home soil, and did not realise that this made them a laughing stock to others without the disadvantage of a Durmstrang upbringing. Learning why the English were so good, because they did not believe in favours to favourites, had gone a long way to cutting through a fog of resentment over what made them different; and now she was willing to bet that her school stood equal to any of the English schools, even though the range of subjects was not so great. Jade and Severus had both held forth on Divination, which they had described as an unfortunately vital fuzzy study; that the English considered it largely useless but sufficiently important to retain on the curriculum made her have to consider including it.

Comparative Magic; that sounded interesting but as it included studies of elf and goblin magic the parents would not accept that. And no goblin would consider for a minute teaching in Durmstrang where he would be treated like dirt, even if the parents were ready to accept goblin metal work on the curriculum. Agata had learned a lot about goblins after having been forced by Jade to come more into contact with them; and had to admit that she found them less disgusting than she had expected. Some were crude; but that might equally well apply as a descriptor of some of her pure blood pupils. Well now at least there was a more than adequate Arithmancy teacher in the person of Katarina Nachtigall; and there was the subject of Geomancy now taught formally under Nannerl Schweffel; and Chanting taught by Volodya Potishev. There would not be the embarrassment of watching a candidate fail to understand any arithmantic key in the next Triwizard since hopefully all her sixth form of the time would have a good grounding. A shame Zlatko would not be here for the next year; Agata had already sounded him out about staying on and the boy had laughed and said that the Eulenspiegels would do well enough by the school.

It was true that Xanthe and Xanthippe were the most talented in the year; Agata would personally have preferred a champion who was not an ethnic German, and Zlatko would have fulfilled the situation perfectly, but if he would not stay with some excuse to study further that was his choice. Hogwarts' Lionel Dell had stayed the extra year; but then that HAD been part of a plot to embarrass Odessa, and she merely embarrassed incidentally.

She must suggest – with as much saccharine sweetness in her tone as she could muster – that the Russian Pure Bloods should enter the Triwizard. Seven schools; but why not? It might be made clear that only established schools might host the Triwizard; that meant that the Russians had a good chance of being embarrassed by goblins from the worst and meanest families as brought on by Jade, because they could not host it and so could not arrest wanded goblins for breaking the laws of their country. Nor could Jade host it, so there would be less chance of incidents if any of her goblins and blood-taints felt like reverse blood snobbery. Indeed perhaps it might be well if only the three original schools were available to HOST the thing; naturally the tasks might be devised by any participants who registered early enough to be drawn. Yes, it was a question of scale; the ability to accommodate the extra children during the tasks. And besides one did not want one's own pupils seduced by the cosy background that she strongly suspected prevailed in Prince Peak.

It was lowering to admit that the best students were also Marauders; and that this was a gift from Jade to her school. It was not because of the blood pact; she had ascertained that using this was considered the most damnable cheating. It was more to do with the concept of plotting mischief so sophisticated that it required a level of research that would be declared cruel and unusual if set for class work.

Why her son and his cronies should be building a maze though escaped her.

oOoOo

The Musical Marauders and their runic based maze were well content with this basis for mischief and school defence. And in time – should the new group prove suitable – they would reveal its secrets and explain how to use the power of the four runes embedded in its pathways to block, confuse, move about and even imprison those they did not like; and how to use the Ehwaz rune in combination with the Raidho rune to open a gate into the maze from the crossing of a line about the school, which they had yet to chant in, once it was activated, and containing the whole of the maze in a broken bubble of wizarding space so they could not get out unless they knew the right keys, passwords and gates. That way the maze could be activated to defend the school and marauders could enter it from THEIR secret gates to defeat enemies in detail within it.

The hedges were growing well and the boys were preparing to train certain of their hedges into rampant horse shapes as some of the defences of the maze, again using the Ehwaz rune which represented horses, travel and comradeship. The second most powerful rune, the Eihwaz rune, represented the yew from which the hedges were largely formed – with sundry other significant plants – and stood for strength and protection. Its opposition form could be seen as confusion and destruction and allied with the merkstave of Ehwaz, which was restlessness and recklessness, and was to be used to make an enemy destroy themselves by attacking each other. Raidho was the rune of translocation and was handy for apportation points and gates; and its merkstave might be used to hold static any who were translocated in to a carefully constructed wizarding space oubliette.

The whole was based around the Ingwaz rune, indicative of home and caring. This was the centre; a place where Marauders might recuperate and rest in a wizarding space headquarters. They would use this as a general headquarters too, from which to plot mischief and hold midnight feasts. It was a shame not to use it after all just because there were no enemies to test it on as a vital nerve centre. It was a place to draw on the energies of recuperation. And the Musical Marauders felt that they had chosen an excellent set of runes for their purpose; and planned to write it up – though not fully – to present as a project to enable them to take Art in Magic as an English OWL exam. As none of them were particularly artistic they knew they would never pass highly; but the opportunity to study pattern in magic – and compare it to the patterns in their music in magic that Volodya was teaching them – was too good to miss as Madam Bacsó had granted them permission to get the text books and study on their own time! No Marauder ever passed up an opportunity to learn more and apply it; and if their use of the runes was far more sophisticated than might be expected of even sixth formers let alone third years – indeed second years when they had set it up – this was perhaps down to having two natural transfigurationists in the group who had a feel for movement and change.

The level of sophistication had never occurred to the marauders – any more than it had occurred to Agata to consider that they might use something of that level – because it was just something they wanted to do and had required library work. Their main concern was pruning and further growth-encouraging charms.

"This ruddy hedge is going to be a full time job" growled Bronislava.

"Not when we have the self pruning spells up" said Sigismund. "And then it'll be a doddle to maintain. It's only while the ruddy thing is growing that it's so high maintenance; reckon we'll be able to leave it almost to its own devices once we need to concentrate because we're in the fifth and don't you go groaning you lot; just THINK what an excuse it is too, that we need to tend our hedges, if we want to slip out and get up to mischief."

The others brightened.

There was that!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

There was a new teacher to breakfast on the first full day; and Madam Bacsó introduced her.

"This is Frau Edmée Piret; she is to teach those who have talent in the art of Divination" she said "The governors have agreed that although the talent is too rare to waste the time of the school as a whole there is a valid reason in teaching those who do have the talent. The first year will receive a class in Divination during the first term and any who show talent may then continue to take an extra curricular voluntary class as those who are musical study outside of school hours; and as we have a group of enthusiasts currently studying on their own time for the English art in magic exam. I am given to understand that some seer abilities may manifest through art but doubtless Frau Piret will explore that in her classes. She is agreed to offer a Saturday morning class for volunteers from older classes who feel that they might have any talent worth developing; she will however be cruel to be kind and be blunt with those who are deluding themselves."

Frau Piret rose. She was a dark, intense witch who looked as though she had French ancestry, with dark flashing almond shaped eyes with which she regarded the school under heavy lids. She wore a coloured scarf over her luxuriant hair and another around her neck; and she smiled a little smile almost of invitation to the older boys.

There was no question about it; she WAS a beautiful witch, queenly and mysterious; and her smile covered the male professors too.

Zoltan noted the cynical smile that was half sneer on his father's lips; the look of sheer terror on Professor Panov's face; and the look of amused appreciation on Professor Carcano's face. Professor Piret turned her smile on the three youngest male professors, Professors Gierek, Potishev and Ijas. All of them were blood group; and Zoltan could feel Clovis Gierek's near anger at this manipulative creature, Lazlo Ijas' complete indifference; he had scarcely noticed her for the missing of his beloved Zhanargul, doing a year post ZH study in Prince Peak; and Volodya Potishev's failure too to notice. Volodya looked dreamy eyed, and there was a touch of triumph to Frau Piret's smile; she thought, silly creature, that he was dreamy for her. Zoltan knew, through the blood bond AND because he knew Professor Potishev, that it was nothing more nor less than a tune writing itself in Volodya's head. Well she would find out.

The only person he knew of who was any cop at divination was Zlatka, who was a rather fine dowser; but she of course would be immune to the woman's blatant sex appeal. Zoltan rather fancied that Zlatko would be too; he had his lovers in the Eulenspiegel twins and THEY were his bloodkin. Several of the other older boys were gazing mesmerised and Zoltan heard Zlatko murmur,

"DO put your tongue back in your mouth, Langbessen; I don't want your drool in my breakfast."

Somehow Zoltan suspected that Professor Piret would have an enthusiastic class of older boys wanting to see if they could divine enough to sound Frau Piret's personal well.

"I am so fortunate to be offered the opportunity to stimulate young minds" murmured Frau Piret in a breathy voice that was deep and thrilling; and Zoltan thought cynically that she was perfectly well aware that it was not MINDS she was thinking about stimulating. "The art of Divination is not born into all; but for those who have it, not to develop the talent is a wasteful crime. I hope that my teaching will develop too in those whose talents are latent something which will grow into a greater thing."

Well you could take that more than one way.

"Should we sign up just to have visions and see how far we can lead the silly creature on?" whispered Sigismund.

"When we're already taking two extra classes? Talk sense" said Beremud. "Not worth the strain."

"Fair comment" said Sigismund.

oOoOo

For the Marauders of the third, being back at school was a return to fun and games, the lessons worked over together where any found any difficulty; and they helped out such of their fellows too who had trouble.

They, like the Jade Fag Marauders a year above them, were too old to fag; indeed most of those for whom they fagged had left school. They turned their fertile minds instead in their leisure to developing art and studying pattern because even if they could not paint portraits to save their lives they might as well at least know the theory. And Zoltan and Corneliu began experimenting with marbling ink, especially formulated with gum Arabic, that floated on water and how it might be affected by playing notes on violin or cello to capture the moment of intense vibration after a short magical passage had been played.

It would require a bit of development but they had hopes of some results at least. They forgot divination entirely.

There was a Marauders' meeting in which the subject of Madam Piret came up.

"She is actually fairly good" said Zlatka "Trying, as I am, to be fair to her; she is delighted that I can dowse. I learned more from a few chats with Albert" she flushed as she mentioned her English boyfriend "But she does know her stuff and I think I might be able to get more out of other means of divination than just a divining rod. Certainly enough to study seriously under Prince Peak's teacher."

"I hate to be a cynic, but what's someone who can actually DO divination doing teaching?" asked Xanthippe "I mean, I know there is such a thing as a calling but if Frau Pickel has a calling for anything but seduction I'll be surprised."

"Calling her Madam Pimple is not entirely fair" said Attila Nagy "She's an irritation but not quite to that level; besides, you may forget and call her that to one of us in school and we should have to set punishment. She IS quite good; and she has been an insurance diviner; but she's lying low. I got this from Agata who extracted the story from the woman and interpreted it into truth. Edmée Piret promised a long and fruitful life to an elderly rich client and proceeded to seduce him and marry him. There's a law suit going on between her and the rest of his heirs that she misled him; her claim being that he would have had a long and fruitful life had he not been over-stimulated by the excitement of marriage to her, which upset her calculations. She's under investigation by the insurance firm she worked for too and has been sacked; and no other insurance firm is going to employ her. She's lying low in the school hoping that her troubles will go away and that she might emerge from a speculative marriage to an old man with at least some of the spondulix. She's greedy, sexually rapacious and a little irritating; but on the other hand she does at least know her stuff; which has to be better than the run of the mill seer or seeress who can manage occasional visions and makes up any old crap in between."

"I suppose so" said Xanthippe "What's the story with the one at Prince Peak?"

Zlatka answered.

"You need sixty percent accuracy to be an insurance diviner; Madam Gimlet hovers between fifty-eight and fifty-nine percent. Professor Snape trusts her ability; as Professor Fraser trusts Madam Spikenard who's a retired insurance diviner; early retirement I understand because her husband died, and he was her boss. Well either Mme Piret – she's Belgian by the way – will piss off Agata and will get sacked or she'll get her ticket to riches and a succession of man-whores in which case let us hope she will have trained up a diviner to take her place from among our number."

oOoOo

The first years had their introduction to Divination without a chance to buck out of it; though as Ilarion said to his set, at least they would only have to stick it for a term. They found Frau Piret a slightly amusing figure with her languorous ways and studiedly thrilling voice; but then it was an opportunity to skulk at the back and get on with other prep.

Some of the class took it as an opportunity to skulk at the back and do damn all; but the incipient Marauders had been well shaken down in the ECC by older marauders who had impressed on them that it was their bounden duty to be ahead in all lessons for the purpose of pulling better pranks and better defending the weak. They took it all very seriously.

Xanthos knew he was NEVER going to be ahead in Transfigurations; like his brother he just had a total blind spot. Xanthos however was an ambitious boy, and determined to be as good as he could be; and stayed behind to inform Professor Nagy, frightening though the big man was when irritated over the inabilities of juniors, that although he might be hopeless he was jolly well going to put his back into it and if Professor Nagy could give him extra exercises to practise he would like to do so.

Attila looked on the boy with approval.

"You have spirit and determination; good" he said "Your brother too performs better than one might think for his sheer will power; though he has not thought to come and talk to me. I am going to give you a remedial lesson of half an hour on… let me see, I have a free period during your divination class; does missing it fill you with dismay?"

Xanthos brightened.

"Not in the least sir" he said cheerfully. He might hate transfiguration but at least he would suffer for something USEFUL.

"Well then that's a date" said Attila "If you have any difficulties, you might want to ask the marauders in the third; my sons are a part of the group and they have a good appreciation of how to break difficult concepts down to be simpler; I shall be basing your remedial lessons on the results of my eavesdropping on the way Zoltan has tried to help others in his class."

"Oh sir, I'm one of the group in the first that want to maraud!" declared Xanthos.

"Are you now? Then I shall be harder on you in class. Those of us who are honorary marauders have to be tough on our younger members you know" said Attila.

He might be a scary figure in class, but to Xanthos, Attila had just been elevated to near godhood; for he had offered to give up time AND he was a marauder and he had not only not been angry that Xanthos asked for help but seemed pleased!

Consequently, when the second transfigurations class of the week was missing Waldemar Zdun – to Attila Nagy's irritation – Xanthos dragged his fellow would-be marauders in search of the Polish boy and found him sobbing in the toilets.

"Who's done what to you, young Zdun?" demanded Daffodil. She, Nedelya and Marlene were taking no notice of the fact that they had invaded a boys' toilet.

"I – nobody yet" said Waldemar sniffing "But I couldn't face Professor Nagy and now I'm scared he's going to wax most angry for me sloping off."

"Well he'd have every right you know you ass" said Xanthos "Because it's most awfully rude of you! But I say, he's not half so scary if you're only up front about being bad at things and ask for help; because I did. Come on; we're going to see him now so you can apologise and then you can ask him if you can butt out of divination too for remedial help with me."

Waldemar was more or less dragged along to the staffroom and Xanthos knocked and asked for Professor Nagy and delivered a speech all in one breath.

"Please sir, Zdun wants to apologise for being rude through being a bit of a – a poor prune" – it was a phrase he had heard other Marauders use – "And he needs extra help with transfigurations too because he's a big a goop at it as I am."

"And does he aspire to maraud too?" asked Attila.

Xanthos shook his head.

"No sir; but Marauders look after other people" he said.

"Of course" said Attila, relieved that someone who had retired in cowardice did not hope to Maraud.

"I didn't mean to be RUDE by hiding sir" said Waldemar, looking rather lachrymose "I'm just so bad at EVERYTHING but especially transfigurations and – and I was afraid."

"Well" said Attila "People who cower at me get me irritable; show me some fire and spirit and I'll forgive poor work so long as you make an honest effort. Do you WANT extra lessons?"

Waldemar quailed.

"No sir but I think I ought to have them if you – you're kind enough to offer them" he said.

Attila roared with laughter.

"Well I can't fault your honesty, boy!" he said. "I offer them; come along with Xanthos and we'll see if we can't overcome the blind spots you both have. I'll try a number of different approaches if at first we do not succeed; up to and including explaining the theory most people don't learn until ZH level. I gather that for some people understanding the theory helps. Now cut along and wash your face before your next lesson; and let's have no more of this poor prunery."

"Yes sir; thank you sir" said Waldemar.

"See? Isn't he just the TOPS?" declared Xanthos, before they were fully out of Attila's hearing. Attila chuckled and shook his head. He did not court popularity but it was always nice to have fans!

The would-be marauders also noted the bruises on Max Varghund.

"I say Varghund, who's been doing you over?" asked Ilarion bluntly.

Max shrugged and winced.

"My man" he said "I guess it's what a fag must expect; especially when he's made a poor choice of man to follow and then goes out of his way to irritate the said man."

"You were got at to fag for Harald Trollkettil before you even got to school, right?" said Ilarion "My man is Zlatko Asimov and I've heard him discussing with the Quidditch team that Trollkettil sort of burned his boats over being on the team for extreme poor prunery on several different levels. What have you been doing to get his goat?"

"Writing rude poetry in a parody of some old poet called Tennyson – he's English – about people who blow their chances of playing for the school team" said Max "I swore I'd get revenge for him lying about what a big man he was; and now all his own class are laughing at him. It's worth a few bruises, though I can't say I like the idea of going through this for the next couple of years."

"Well leave his service then" said Ilarion "You can you know; it's not compulsory. And it's not like Trollkettil has enough friends or cronies to enforce your staying. Tell him to do his own ruddy chores."

Max brightened.

"Can I really do that?" he said.

"Of course you can; and we'll back you what's more and if Trollkettil tries to bully you, we'll set on him" said Ilarion. "Big types don't like much being done over by little kids; it's way embarrassing you know!"

Max managed a grin.

"Not as embarrassing as everyone quoting,

_Oh for a broom to fly that flies not!_

_Oh for a chance to play!_

_Oh to be wanted one more time_

_To fly just one more day_!"

"Well I guess maybe you DID almost ask for your lumps" said Ilarion judiciously "Though to my mind a good cuff on one side ought to be sufficient; your face is black and blue and judging by the way you hold yourself so's other places."

"He laid about him with his broom handle" said Max. Ilarion frowned.

"Now that is WAY over-reacting. We can't have that; it's gone from discipline of a rudely clever pest into bullying. You jolly well ought to leave him; and we shall serve notice on Harald Trollkettil as Marauders that you are and that we consider him a bully and we shall be watching him."

"He won't take much notice you know" said Daffodil "Bullies rarely do."

"That's the idea, isn't it?" said Marlene shrewdly "Because when he doesn't take any notice we have the excuse to do him and do him well."

"Precisely" said Ilarion. "And we aren't going to discuss it in front of Max in case Trollkettil tries to torture it out of him."

"Besides we haven't any ideas yet" said Nedelya "And we need to go and think of some."

Harald Trollkettil, served with a note by Ilarion, as spokesman, tore up the note in the boy's face and gave him a rather brutal whack across the face for good measure.

"Cheeky brat!" he said "You stay out of my way or I'll teach you how to do so; and send my fag to me."

"He isn't your fag any more" said Ilarion "And he isn't coming; and if you don't honour that then I shall take him to my man, and if you REALLY want to go up against Zlatko Asimov then I guess you're an idiot as well as a nasty bully. And by the way, when the bruise comes out I BET Zlatko is going to ask how I got it; but I shan't sneak. I'm a marauder and I and my friends will enact due justice for ourselves."

Harald had paled; Zlatko had already spoken to him about pushing little ones about and Zlatko could be a very frightening figure.

He forced an ironic laugh.

"Oh do your worst, you and whatever brats play your silly gang game!" he said.

"We shall" said Ilarion

oOoOo

Harald was about to be in for a series of rags all of which were to be nuisance level and so minor that he could scarcely report them without being told off for being foolish; and yet all together they should make his life as much a misery as any bullied fag's life was. Ilarion did refuse to tell Zlatko who had caused his bruises, explaining that he preferred to get his OWN own back but that any stray jinxes of an amusing nature that the Head Boy knew would be very much appreciated.

Consequently nothing so pedestrian as apple pie beds were to be Harald's lot. Nedelya, who was good at transfiguration, turned all his slippers into bunnies; Ilarion, Marlene and Daffodil worked together to enchant his rubber boots to cast the jelly-legs jinx whenever he put them on; his pyjamas were given a tickling charm by Xanthos; and they all chanted, having asked for a bit of help from the musical marauders in the design of the chant, to make the boy's mirror scream and cry out 'who's that ugly creature?' in a shrill falsetto every time he looked into it, and his pillow to blow a raspberry every time he lay down on it. Finally they enchanted all his socks to be sock puppets that gave commentary on what an unpleasant boy he was until they had been wrestled into submission and put on; and one pair had been done so well that Harald's toes in his shoes were still declaring at breakfast that they didn't know what the world was coming to having to be worn on such cheesy feet.

Harald was giving Ilarion and friends a look that boded ill.

"I shouldn't if I were you, Trollkettil" said Zlatko "NOW I know who hurt my fag; I can read it in your face. If I were you, I'd take my punishment like a man; because if you even start to retaliate then I fear I shall remove the matter from the hands of my fag and his cronies and make it a prefect matter. I don't like bullies. I presume Ilarion stood up for the poor little sprout of a fag of yours that you beat half black and blue; don't think the staff haven't noticed. And you know what, I can see that at least four of the staff have their eyes on you, to make sure that if you so much as DREAM of laying a finger on one of those kids, you are going to be leaped on by them before I even get a chance. Nobody likes you, Trollkettil; you've gone out of your way to be unlikeable. Even the staff dislike you because you're a rude and truculent pupil; and even being good at quidditch isn't your saving grace because you don't even put your all into that. If I was you I'd live down being Harald Trollkettil; though part of me wishes you'd try something and get expelled for it."

"You – you WOMANISER!" said Trollkettil "You think you can get away with smooching both the Eulenspiegels at once; and it's because of that they're on the team, not me!"

"You were thrown off the team by Zhanargul for you blatant lack of ability to play up" said Zlatko "Nothing to do with ME old boy; nor the choice of the twins for the team. And by the way, accusing me of that is more or less slander; you're seventeen in two weeks time. Keep saying lies about me and as soon as you are seventeen, my Anwalt will be serving you with a writ; unless you prefer to duel me? No, thought not" he added as Trollkettil paled. "And by the way, if a boy of nearly seventeen is too incapable to take down the stray curses of eleven year olds, what the devil do you mean by having the cheek to sit ZHs? Do grow a backbone and get a life, Trollkettil; you're such a bore!"

Trollkettil seethed; but he did so in silence. He was too afraid of Zlatko not to.

oOoOo

Zlatko could not help contrasting Trollkettil's treatment of his fag to that of Gisela Schutzmann's discovery that her fag Renate Dunkelschwann, who had been wished onto her by the Musical Marauders, had been sorting out and putting away Gisela's washed clothing; and had discovered one of her evening gowns, since Durmstrang Sixth Formers dressed for dinner, was apparently – at least to Renate's eyes – crumpled; and proceeded to attempt to iron it.

The fabric was a deliberately crumpled silk, to catch the light in its permanently set semi-pleats; and not only did ironing it ruin the entire effect, Renate also burned a hole right through it with the iron. Gisela had discovered the child sobbing, iron still in hand, dithering over what to do. She had relieved the little girl of the iron, given her a cuddle, fed her on coffee and toast with jam, and explained the nature of crumple fabrics very gently.

Gisela was blood bonded; and only her blood group ever knew the wash of anguish she felt over the ruin of a favourite gown. But it had been done with all good intentions – and no wonder there was the saying about the way to hell being paved with such good intentions – and getting angry with the child who felt so upset about the whole business would not have solved anything. Gisela was a clever needlewoman, fortunately; and a skilled enough chanter to restore the intended crimped appearance; and by cutting the sleeves to three quarter length she was able to patch the burned area and use another chant based on the mending charm to bind new piece to old without any edges by merging the two pieces of cloth into one. If the sleeves left her arms cold she might wear a long sleeved under robe; or use a fancy brocade to make long decorative cuffs and put on a matching collar.

In fact, Gisela had briefly wanted to shake poor Renate, but the child was so biddable and well meaning! After all, she had not been sent for to put away the clean clothes; it was a piece of helpful work the babe had taken onto herself.

Gisela undertook to teach Renate the proper care of different kinds of fabrics; it might save further terrible accidents in the future and would see the child leaving school with some useful skills as a housefrau, which seemed likely to be about the most academically challenging job to which she was ever likely to aspire.

oOoOo

Meanwhile, being virtuous had rather gone to the heads of the Jade Fag Marauders who had suddenly realised that they were in the fourth and only really had this year in which to break out in mischief; and had proceeded to harass anyone who wanted to use the main staircase by taking two brooms each, collecting ski sticks from the winter sports locker, and skiing down the stairs, a foot or so above the main level of the treads, on racing brooms, all the way from attic to ground floor in speed contests, and then with chairs balanced precariously on the main flight to do slalom racing. Cacilia Von Freyer Nagy had narrowly escaped being part of the slalom course and promptly returned to the staff room to suggest that the rest of the afternoon spent quietly in its environs might prove safest for anyone with nerves.

Clovis Gierek and Lazlo Ijas went out and told the four culprits that they would certainly be banned from the sport unless they gave them a go too.

The Musical Marauders joined in too, and sundry of the other of the middle school – who discovered that staying upright balanced on two brooms carried its own challenges – and hilarious fun was had that had the advantage, declared Attila, of being relatively good clean fun on a wet Saturday and at least one knew exactly where the worst hellions in the school were to be found. The minor breaks, cuts and abrasions were sorted out adequately by the marauders.

The main body of the school used other staircases for the remainder of the afternoon. Such an activity had never, after all been banned; because nobody had ever thought of it before. Agata Bacsó DID make the announcement at supper that in the future all kinds of skiing on the stairs was henceforth forbidden and she would expect a written apology couched to whom it may concern from those involved to those who had been inconvenienced by the conversion of the main stairs into a winter sports venue.

The four duly delivered a written apology; and Agata refused to permit her two guilty staff members to append their names but insisted that they might sit extra prep duty in lieu.

oOoOo

The wilder spirits might be channelled more readily by the setting up of duelling contests to pick the team who were to represent the school when Prince Peak and the Russian school visited; and of course Harald Trollkettil fancied his chances. He had no idea how much hilarity this caused the rest of the seniors.

That plenty of the seniors had seen the bruises on his fag led to Harald being more comprehensively jinxed on the piste than might have otherwise occurred; and such juniors and middles who could accrue enough points to meet a senior like Harald were not backwards about coming forward either.

Agata placed a ban on anyone under fifteen being on the team; though the younger ones should show what they were made of and give practice to their elders.

Somehow she had the vision of Sigismund and Zoltan managing to pull out the performances of their lives in order to be on the team if given half a chance, and at thirteen and twelve this was NOT what she considered proper.

It may be said that both the half-brothers considered the likes of Harald very poor sport for being too pedestrian and slow; because both the ECC and marauding ethos encouraged speed, economy of movement and non verbal casting. Zlatko of course was elegant in his wand work when he bothered with it; and for the most part smiled genially and disposed of most of his opponents without opening his mouth or removing his hands from his pockets. The younger Marauders were tremendously proud of him and were certain he was going to win the contest! Zlatko held judgement; he knew some of his bloodkin at Prince Peak and he knew they would send a strong team. He had every expectation, however, of being up there with the best.

The team was finally decided as the Asimov twins, the Eulenspiegel twins, Alexand Amsel, who had always been a crony of Xanthe and Xanthippe without having been picked to Maraud, and Zyrillis Genauschüren of the fifth, the youngest member of the team. Zyrillis was of the blooded; and he was a staunch fighter and very well organised as well as canny enough to alter a plan in mid flow.

oOoOo

There was also time for a Quidditch match before the bad weather set in; and those on the quidditch team almost echoed those on the duelling team.

The only real changes were the need for two new chasers since Zhanargul and Stiv had left; and the logical choice for one of the new chasers was Xanthe Eulenspiegel, as her twin already played keeper and she worked well with Zlatka. On paper, Harald should have been offered the chance to play chaser rather than his favoured position as Keeper; or Vladimir Chernykrov, who was the next best player. Zlatko however vetoed either; since Harald was a grade 'O' tick of the first water and Vladimir had been a willing participant in the tortures inflicted on others his age when he was a junior in Heinrich Nachtigall's time; and Vladimir had not improved with keeping. Zlatka, games prefect, demanded that her brother then suggest who to play in Vladimir's stead; and Zlatko said calmly,

"Wencelada. She's taken to the game like a cauldron on fire since Jade fixed her defective heart; glories in not having to be careful with herself. She'll put her HEART into being capped for the school."

Wencelada was ready to put her heart into it; she had never even expected to be alive by this age, let alone playing quidditch.

Vladimir complained of course when Zlatka pinned up the list of the players.

"I'm better than Fernandez!" he declared. Zlatka fixed him with an icy look.

"Better? That depends on your point of view. A technically more accomplished player certainly but not so good a team player and THAT is what counts. Wencelada is on the team; you are not. And if you don't like it, go to the Russian school."

Vladimir scowled.

"You know I can't; they only take pure bloods."

"Oh sorry; I forgot that you aren't; you behave as badly as those who let pure blood go to their heads" said Zlatka.

Zlatka WAS pure blooded; and Vladimir seethed slightly.

Had he shown a willingness to learn better behaviour since the way of doing things changed he would have found the marauders ready to fall over themselves to help him. However, Vladimir had continued to be spiteful and to go out of his way to try to hurt others; and he was not about to receive any sympathy for such behaviour.

oOoOo

The team that the school were to play were the Würzburg Werewolves; a team not particularly high up the rankings but said to be improving. They were a team of large, loud, jolly players who Zlatko suspected were likely to cause fouls more by over-enthusiasm than by any intent.

They played hard; but their strategy was definitely limited. And outwitting their seeker was almost like casting stinging hexes at fish in a barrel. They had scored highly simply for being able to barrel their way through the slighter defenders; and accrued quite a few penalties for unintentional stooging on the way, it may be said. Zlatko however had seen the snitch; and took his opposite number on a wild ride away from it whilst keeping his own eye firm on the fluttering golden thing.

And then he was into an Immelman turn and catching the snitch while he was still upside-down.

There were ten points in it; he had just caught the snitch in time to give the school the victory.

The Würtzburg captain shook his hand heartily; they were gracious in defeat if chagrined.

"We must work harder to improve further if we may be beaten by schoolchildren; but it is good to play a challenging match to test our weaknesses and we are grateful. It has been fun; you too have enjoyed?"

"Oh yes" said Zlatko; it had been a good match. "You are good sports; and we have had a most enjoyable time."

The visiting captain laughed. "So long as you do not lay on Inferii for us; though I think we should show less cowardice than SOME people."

Zlatko grinned, recalling the farce of the last year's inferii attack.

"I wager you would at that" he said. They were a jolly team, and lamented the cure for werewolves over Kaffee und Kuchen solely because their name was now obsolete, rather than because they had any dispute with the idea of werewolves wanting a cure; and Zlatko thought them one of the jollier teams that had ever visited!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The day of the duelling match arrived; it was still early in the term because the bad weather to come could be unpleasant for the visitors arriving outside the anti-apparating zone.

The first visitors to arrive turned up as the ECC finished its run; much earlier than anticipated. The blooded members felt the arrival of the Duelling Team of Prince Peak just outside the anti-apparating zone of Durmstrang and the ECC went to greet them.

"The other school's due to arrive mid morning you know sir" said Zlatko, as Head Boy to Severus.

"I know; but Durmstrang lays on good breakfasts and we thought you might like to get to know some opposite numbers of marauders and friends" said Severus.

The ECC had no problem with non humans; and Zlatko went ahead to warn both the head and the kitchen elves that there were seven extra to breakfast; and proceeded to sort out the visitors with appropriate friends. Yrdl Breuer, the baby of the Prince Peak team and a Marauder was soon chatting happily with Zyrillis, who was the baby of the Durmstrang team and her own age, fifteen, and happy to meet someone with bloodsong; Mungo was to sit with the Asimov twins; and Xanthe and Xanthippe Eulenspiegel took the rest along with them.

Aglaia Hallow of the lower sixth stared as Zyrillis showed Yrdl into the great hall.

"Merlin's beard a GOBLIN in school robes? Those depraved types have sent a GOBLIN?" she spoke in English in her shock.

The young goblin girl regarded her.

"You are on the duelling team perhaps, Fraulein?" she asked.

Aglaia scowled.

"She isn't" said Zyrillis "Didn't make it; resents me doing so for being a year younger."

"Ah?" said Yrdl. "Those older than me had the manners to congratulate ME. But of course such things as ability and manners are so soon eroded by all that high-class pure bred bitchery – excuse, I mean WITCHERY of course." She spoke English; and Zyrillis knew she had done it just to make the word play.

Naturally Aglaia went to strike Yrdl; and consequently later spent a very uncomfortable time being interviewed by Attila Nagy about why her hand was a bunch of rather limp rhubarb when she found that she had to seek help. Attila had no time for Aglaia at the best of times; and Yrdl was his bloodkin and a rather fine transfigurationist for he had seen that Yrdl had merely glanced at her hand; though for Aglaia this added insult to injury; but the English blood snob contented herself with muttering.

Eve Cherrytree, expelled from Prince Peak and now in Zyrillis' class, murmured to Yrdl

"I don't like you Breuer, and I don't much like goblins and I don't like marauders much either; but I'm not half pleased to see that cow put in her place!"

Yrdl smiled an austere little smile.

"I don't like you either Cherrytree but so long as you don't actually give voice to your racist views I shan't turn you into a cabbage."

"Well I guess civilised goblins like you are better than some of the blood snobs" said Eve.

"Civilisation is a matter of upbringing" said Yrdl. "Do you think she's going to have conniptions when she realises that Vya is on the team too? I've never actually seen anyone having conniptions, it should be highly amusing."

It has to be said that Eve actually giggled spitefully.

It has also to be said that she had learned that Yrdl was a nicer classmate than many of the more bloodsnobbish of Durmstrang. She would hold obstinately to her stated views on the surface, but below those projected ideas she had actually had an original idea or two. Especially as she was in a class with Vladimir Chernykrov and a few other of the choicer bloodsnobs in the school; and the decent bunch in her class, the blooded, had been wont to ignore her since she had not behaved entirely well on her arrival. That they also knew why she had been expelled by Severus did not help them to feel civil; writers of poison pen letters were to be despised.

Eve was certainly wishing that using anonymous letters to get at people had never occurred to her; but at least she was better prepared for the Prince Peak team than her countrywoman Aglaia.

oOoOo

Aglaia stared in horror as Vya was one of those of her own age brought forward by the Eulenspiegel twins; but she said nothing. Having one of her hands as vegetables was bad enough; she was afraid of the twins as well as of the English duellists ganging up on her!

The would-be marauders of the first year were delighted to have the opportunity to put their own ecumenical intentions into practice and beamed on all the visitors.

oOoOo

Agata Bacsó smiled austerely at the visitors as the school rose for the staff.

"We welcome the first contingent of visitors who have admitted to coming to gatecrash our excellent breakfast; there are too Marauders on their team who wish to meet our own Marauders. Severus, will you introduce your team?"

Severus proceeded to do so; each contestant standing as he said their name; Mungo Fraser, Angel Hallow-Hellibore – at whose name several eyes swivelled to Aglaia Hallow who was pretending to have nothing to do with him – Sandalla Zorn; Silvina Snape – excited whispers broke out at the idea of seeing a Snape in action – Vya Kalinka and Yrdl Breuer. The Marauders and other blooded at least clapped the last two as loudly as they did the humans. So too did the first year would-be marauders. Professor Snape bestowed a thin smile of approval on them.

"We look forward to an enjoyable match, Agata" Professor Snape said.

"Indeed" said Agata "The Russians should be in for several shocks. MY team are Zlatko Asimov; Zlatka Asimova; Xanthe Eulenspiegel; Xanthippe Eulenspiegel; Alexand Amsel; and Zyrillis Genauschüren."

"An excess of twins to be sure!" said Severus "Our lower sixth twins were among the six who were equal seventh; one point below the two at equal sixth. It was a close run thing."

"Oh I don't think we yet boast your DEPTH of able duellists" said Agata "But I think you will find those on the team very capable."

"I hope so" said Severus "It's more fun when it isn't a pushover. I believe I'm getting most of them for postgraduate studies too at some point; it will be interesting to watch their styles and assess their capabilities."

The judges arrived just after breakfast; it was too their responsibility to see the piste set up and the protective charms in place. Severus wandered off to the staffroom to discuss potions with Cacilia Von Freyer Nagy while the youngsters assimilated with their counterparts and the smallest vied to run errands.

The assimilation involved AHHa claiming kinship with Aglaia and taunting her in the disguise of kindly questioning about her predilections and prejudices until Xanthippe whacked him across the back of the head.

"You really are a marauder" said AHHa gloomily; Xanthippe had only beaten Sandalla to it by a matter of seconds.

Silvina got stolen by the Musical Marauders who had no business to cut out a big girl from the sixth form common room since they were after all only in the third year.

"Is it true you've been doing research into music in magic?" demanded Corneliu.

"I have" said Silvina "And what's more I was planning on using it for the duel."

"COOL!" said Sigismund. "You're one of the famous ones in the line of inventing stuff; AND we've heard your stuff played on Wizarding Wireless so we're real fans and can we have your autograph please?"

Silvina laughed and complied.

"We're working on some of your pain-stopping tunes with Professor Potishev" said Zoltan "And we played your bit about walking in the pastures for fun; may we do it for a broadcast concert please? Only you have to have the composer's permission."

"You may certainly have it; and I wish you all the best in playing it" said Silvina "I was very happy when I wrote that; and I trust you to get that feeling across. Becoming a marauder and actually having family has been the best thing that ever happened to me and I'm really proud to be here representing my dad, as Professor Snape now is, and all my siblings. I'm not good enough for the Triwizard but I'm a handy duellist."

The Jade Fag Marauders stole Silvina at that point for news of her sister, their beloved Jade; and Silvina laughed and passed on all the news she knew. Sofie, Leva, Elfleda and Kjell adored Jade.

oOo

And then the Russians arrived

oOo

Dolokhov was escorting four girls and two boys who all looked very haughty. They were all Great Russians.

"Agata" said Dolokhov. "Anatoli Serpmesyatsov; Spartak Bierya; Nastya Kostikova; Leesitsa Zloyina; Domna Motyilekova; and Venera Koovshina."

He frowned as Professor Snape handed out a cuff to AHHa for whispering rather too loudly that they all sounded like particularly loathsome diseases. It was impossible not to dissolve into giggles over this very true remark and the entire of the Durmstrang junior school and a significant number of middles succumbed.

"Sergei" said Agata; and introduced her contestants. Her contingent bowed or curtseyed politely as introduced.

Professor Snape smiled his thin smile and introduced HIS contestants. It was a matter of chagrin that their bows and curtseys were much smoother. Several layers of marauders made silent vows to practise their own courtesies.

Dolokhov stared outraged at the elf and goblin girls.

"You bring ANIMALS?" he demanded.

"No; we have no familiars with us" said Snape. "I DO trust you are not referring to my non human children? After all they are wanded according to the law in Germany and we ARE after all in Germany."

"You can't expect my children to meet such as them!" cried Dolokhov.

"Well if they do not care to meet any against whom they are drawn it will be a nice easy win for my children who will win by default since a refusal to duel constitutes disqualification from that match" said the English professor, still smiling, a dangerous smile, his eyes glittering like polished jet. "I shall however resent on their behalf the chance to collect extra style points."

Dolokhov ground his teeth; to have a win called by default if his children refused to meet these creatures was not to be born!

"Agata, surely you will not agree to this farce?" he appealed to Madam Bacsó.

"Sergei, the rules of Duello are laid down; a refusal to fight constitutes a resignation from the match and an automatic win to the other contestant" said Agata. "The youths are legally members of the Prince Peak Academy; enrolled students and the older of the two, Fraulein Vya Kalinka, also holds nine ZP equivalents and at good grades."

"How can you say FRAULEIN of a slave?" he almost spat.

"Gospodin Dolokhov" said Vya who used Russian to address him, not a language to which the marauders were strangers since those of their number who already knew the language had passed it by magic to their friends – not neglecting the would-be marauders of the first – specifically to eavesdrop on the Russian visitors. Vya said, "I am not a slave or I should not wear clothes; I am a free elf of good family and if you continue to insult me I shall call duel on you here and now. To call me any but Fraulein, Miss or Gospoza implies that you wish to take away my character and imply that I am dishonoured. This is a slur on my character I will not accept. I await your apology."

"If you think I am going to apologise to a filthy….."

He got no further but wriggled in the air as a woodlouse.

The entire of Durmstrang laughed. It was such a ridiculous form they could not help it; and the Russians had no manners. Madam Bacsó had made it clear last year that even slaves should be given respect for their hard work.

"Release Herr Dolokhov if you please, Fraulein" said Agata "He is my guest. He was improper to speak as he did and on his behalf I apologise to you."

"At your command" said Vya, sweeping a beautiful curtsey. Dolokhov fell to the floor in his normal form while she was still occupied with curtseying.

"It didn't do it; Snape did it to make it look good" muttered one of the Russian girls. "You'll see, when we get it on the piste."

Dolokhov was furious; Agata took his arm in a grip like a vice. Sigismund was close enough to hear what his mother said and lost no time passing it around his fellows.

"About to make a fool of yourself as my deputy and his satellites made fools of themselves against Harry Potter and friends?" she said softly. "TRY to behave with SOME decorum; if you cast unforgivable curses I SHALL have you arrested."

Dolokhov glowered.

oOoOo

The piste was set up and the draw made. The English boy Mungo was to go first against the Russian girl Domna who had gazed with undisguised horror and some considerable respect at Vya for the woodlouse transfiguration; and who had muttered to one of her fellows that an elf who could manage transfigurations as well as charms was probably going to be a hard challenge.

The other girl had nodded thoughtfully.

Mungo and Domna shook hands before they mounted the piste.

He was not of the blood group, any more than the elf Vya was; but the Durmstrang Marauders were prepared to support him over any Russian.

They had mounted the piste; and Agata Bacsó had her wand raised. She spoke the time honoured words; dropped her wand; and they began.

Domna began with the disarming spell followed by the blasting curse; Mungo let his wand go and blocked the blasting curse with a negligent wave of the hand. He turned Domna into a penguin.

The penguin was furious; and fought to return to its normal form, managing a human head and a rather feathery uniform just as the count hit nine.

"Well done" said Mungo, countering her rather erratic stinging hex as she summoned her wand back to where it had dropped from her flipper, and absently hovering as she cast flames to set fire to the piste. He summoned water to dowse the flames and simultaneously bound, langlocked, tickled and disarmed the partial penguin. This time the count reached ten without Domna managing to extricate herself.

Domna was awarded nine points for style and five for originality; Mungo was awarded six and nine in addition to his ten points for a win. He bowed to Domna and graciously undid the rest of the transfiguration. She had, after all, been polite enough.

Zlatka was the next to go; she had drawn AHHa who WAS blooded.

This was a stiff battle with – at least to marauders – fairly conventional wand work from both. Zlatka countered the chant AHHa tried to set up and added a twist of her own that left him rotating longitudinally parallel to the piste. He failed to escape before the count was over and left to be de-jinxed.

Zlatka needed chanting over too to remove the cacti from the ends of her hands. AHHa scored six and seven, and Zlatka scored seven and six.

The Russian girl called Venera was next; she was against Sandalla, also blooded.

"At least I fight a human" she said "I suppose you are some specie of mudblood or bloodtaint?"

"Actually" said Sandalla sweetly "MY bloodline is better than any of you young countries can manage; we of Zorn trace our bloodline back to Atlantis. But I have also been brought up to recognise that such vanities are but the futile inanities of lesser beings who would place emphasis and importance on their petty arrogances for their failure to actually amount to anything much."

Venera let fly with the blasting curse before Agata Bacsó dropped her wand.

"THAT is a disqualification" said the Durmstrang Head.

Sandalla had absently blocked.

"Madame Bacsó I would fight it nevertheless to show my infinite superiority" she said, with a curtsey. She deliberately used the word 'it' to show the Russian bloodsnobs what Prince Peak thought of their use of the objectification of their own team members in their speech.

"Such is your right" said Madam Bacsó "But if she makes another false start she will be banned from the rest of the competition as well as this match."

Venera was careful to make no such error! She attacked with no finesse, though her partial transfiguration of Sandalla before the other girl resisted the change and fought herself back was unusual for a continental duellist. Sandalla left the girl dancing upside-down on one foot to some tune the German scholars did not know in honky-tonk time, which gained her a poking from Mungo and presumably had meaning to the English. Venera did not manage to escape; and Sandalla had a win. She scored nine and six; Venera scored only four for style though her attempts at transfiguration gave her eight. The German judges considered using transfiguration worth high points; it was a skill considered very difficult and yet to the English it seemed to come as naturally as Zoltan found it. He appreciated the skills of the English school's duellists and watched to learn.

Next it was Zlatko versus the boy Spartak.

"You Germans may put a good face on it but when our troops have restored order such farcical happenings will be pushed aside" said Spartak.

"Actually old boy I'm not German" said Zlatko "I'm Bulgarian; like Viktor Krumm, that famed fighter against Odessa and all it stands for."

"Then you will be one of the first to die under the cruciatus curse begging for death" said Spartak.

"In your dreams, Rus" said Zlatko "You're on the run and your treaties with the fey have been thoroughly disrupted. You breed for pure-blooded moronic asininity. Were we going to mount the piste by the way, or were we just going to exchange insults until you collapse in spluttering incoherence because I'm too erudite for you?"

This was rapidly a grudge match; at least on Spartak's side.

The boy's wand work was good; it was not his fault that Zlatko was just extremely good at defensive spells; and Spartak's attempts to use a tripping hex allied with the body-moving charm might have succeeded had not Zlatko learned enough from the ECC to flip as he tripped and land under his own volition before he could be dragged anywhere for having tucked to gain speed in the tumble. And rapidly Spartak was covered in pustules that swelled and exploded maggots out of them while he vomited slugs and bats poured out of his nose while a fluorescent stream poured out of his bottom to fill a bubble that rapidly filled and lifted him as it transformed into hydrogen.

"He is FLOATING!" cried one of his team mates. Zlatko grinned, recalling the first time he had seen the dirigible fart curse, cast on Heinrich Nachtigall by Jade Snape, which had proceeded at the normal rate for not having had the digestive processes speeded up. He absently turned Spartak's fingers into tiny Pekinese dogs which promptly started biting each other and him to deprive the boy of his wand.

It was a very noisy but rather decisive win and Zlatko scored seven and ten points on top of his win. Spartak had been fairly able with his wand work and scored eight and seven but he needed a lot of dejinxing. Naturally the Durmstrang pupils cheered their head boy loudly.

Silvina Snape was up next, another blooded; facing Xanthe, the quieter of the Eulenspiegel twins. Xanthe's wand work was good and Silvina was clearly having to work hard to counter her most original curses, and had to restore her robes from being rather sudden cacti. Silvina started whistling and the knowledgeable Musical Marauders began to applaud politely before Xanthe realised that the piste had suddenly grown briar roses to enclose her and were gently starting to squeeze. She chanted rapidly to drive them back but Silvina had added counterpoint by then with her wand independently enchanted to tap out a rhythm .

"I concede!" shouted Xanthe "You have me beat, Silvery Snape!"

Silvina scored only five for style – she had scarcely used her wand and the judges were not sure how to award points – but was given a full ten points for originality.

Xanthe scored eight and nine – she WAS good – and shook Silvina's hand.

"That was scary" she said.

"I read too many fairy tales I suppose" grinned Silvina "If I hadn't liked you I'd have grown the briars from the inside out."

Xanthe shuddered.

"You Snapes are inordinately ruthless" she said.

oOoOo

Vya was next to go, drawn against the Russian girl who had agreed with Domna that a house elf able to do transfiguration bore watching. Her name was Leesitsa.

Leesitsa was fast off the mark, pouring spells into Vya, who set her teeth and defended, earning some applause from the Durmstrang pupils even those who were NOT certain they liked the idea of educated elves when she twisted an everdancing curse back onto the caster. Leesitsa quickly got herself out of it and threw a curse of binding twisted with a silencing charm and a disarming charm. Vya was bound, and the bindings had a twist on them that if she wriggled they burned. Leesitsa turned away looking pleased; and Vya demonstrated an iron will in managing to apparate clear out of the bindings and, still silenced and wandless, turned the Russian girl into a teddy bear. Vya did not appreciate being bested, even temporarily, though she had to concede this girl was _good._

The count had reached seven; and Leesitsa had thought she was in for a win, tough though it had been. Her chagrin was apparent when her own count reached ten; and Vya turned her back.

"You are very skilled" said Leesitsa unwillingly.

"I have had good teachers" said Vya "Though it is harder to duel for amusement when we must be careful not to actually hurt any of you because you are not an enemy. Or at least, you are not come as the enemy; whether you are or not is a matter for your deepest soul. You should not feel too bad; the great Hermione Granger was caught out similarly after she believed she had incapacitated her opponent; but he, a boy named Arsène Le Fèvre, went on to be a famous duellist. He studied advanced magic techniques for a year under Professor Snape a couple of years ago and he has not beaten Madam Granger, who teaches us Arithmancy, in a duel since. She hates losing."

"I also hate losing" said Leesitsa.

"Then you should consider on which side to be when the free world moves against the Odessa of Russia" said Vya. "You do not care who or what I am; you care about how well you do. You should realise that elves who perform their magic for love and willingly cannot help but be more powerful than those who are miserable; even as you will find that things that make you unhappy distract you from your work. You have much opportunity to be great in Russia with the right application."

"You are insolent; but I hear your words" said Leesitsa. The Jade Fag Marauders were those who heard most of this exchange; and passed it around that this girl Leesitsa might be ready to turn some day.

oOoOo

There was a break for refreshments before the rest of the first draw continued; ten minutes for drinks and biscuits and comfort breaks; and when the Eulenspiegel twins volunteered the information that they had helped make the biscuits, AHHa mimed dying and was variously poked by his friends and Durmstrang's marauders alike!

And then they resumed.

oOoOo

Yrdl and Xanthippe faced off next; this was always going to be a match played for fun. As Marauders they had little need to hold back, even as Zlatka and AHHa had not needed to do so or Silvina and Xanthe. Curses flew; and it may be said that there was the tacit agreement that both girls pushed wands back into belts and cast wordlessly. Xanthippe cycled through a number of animals whilst Yrdl, cursed by Xanthippe with the Durmstrang marauder's signature curse sprayed her with exploding maggots from the pustules on her, ignoring the slugs pouring out of her mouth; but Xanthippe got control of her form and managed to get a sleeping charm past Yrdl's guard as it was one of the few spells not blocked by the protection charm. Yrdl dropped like a stone and snored gently in an odd harmony with the popping of her maggot-filled pustules. She had scored quite well – eight and six – but it was still a loss. However she DID know enough chanting to remove the pustules when she was awoken; the quick muttered chant and the hand run down her body to dispel the enchantment causing Dolokhov to grind his teeth that this wretched Kobbold might so easily get rid of a spell that he had needed the aid from last year's head girl of Durmstrang to do for his quidditch players! And that he had needed to eat humble pie to the boy Zlatko to rid the same from Spartak! It was insupportable! Goblins should not be ALLOWED to look good in front of much superior pure bred wizards and witches!

It may be said that Yrdl's de-jinxing of herself earned her a lot of respect from the Durmstrang pupils, especially the spell's originators, the Musical Marauders!

oOoOo

Next were Zyrillis against Anatoli the Russian team leader.

Why the boy might be team leader was something of a puzzle since his whole idea of duelling seemed to be to hurl the stinging hex and the blasting curse over and over until such time as he lost his temper with Zyrillis' contemptuous counters and nuisance level counter curses – the bat bogey hex, the jelly legs jinx and such old favourites – and shouted '_CRUCIO_!'. Zyrillis, who had more or less expected this, had pulled out the mirror charm and Anatoli hurt nobody but himself.

"That's a disqualification offence" said Madam Bacsó. Zyrillis bowed.

"Oh but if he's disqualified, Madam Bacsó, the Russians will be down on numbers; and as they are already such a weak team it will tell more. None of us fear the cruciatus curse and nor I suspect do any of the Prince Peak team; we all know the speculum spell I'm sure."

"That is true of course" said Agata Bacsó "The weaklings who feel they have need of such will have only themselves to blame; even as those who use the killing curse also have only themselves to blame if the**y** meet a mirror charm."

This was a warning to Dolokhov and his team; though Anatoli was starting to have a serious tantrum about being called a weakling. He had even more of one when he scored only two and one for a terminally dull performance. Zyrillis, whose wand style was lax for being inclined to ignore it, scored four and nine.

Last in the first round were Alexand against the Russian girl Nastya. He was the Durmstrang team's weakest member though he was very methodical and a man of unbreakable honour.

Nastya demanded to know his blood status; and Alexand, who was pure blooded, smiled and said,

"Red" to her query. She started insulting his probable birth and origins; which left Alexand smiling phlegmatically. It was a close and tough match; but Nastya was actually both good and stylish even if her rather dark curses were a little pedestrian, and her win was obtained by managing to confund Alexand and stupefying him while he was confused; a tactic the English school at least considered low, and did not go down well with the Germans either. It was however a legal tactic. Zlatko murmured that anyone with finesse would use confundment to make their opponent wander off the piste, thereby essentially resigning the match.

"That has taught the blood-taint" said Nastya, jumping down.

"Oh, you think only mixed blood suitable then?" said Zlatko. "You should despise all of us then; for like Alexand we are all, save Zyrillis, who has an unproven ancestor in the sixteenth century, pure blood."

"The boy Alexand is purebred? Why then did he not tell me so when I asked? Why should he let me taunt him?" Nastya was confused.

"Because we consider it rather low to discuss it. Alexand tried to show you by example how he considered your remarks ill-bred but you have not taken the point" said Zlatko. "Deeds count for more than blood status, you know, anyway!"

It may be said that the German team were pleased that, although Alexand recorded a loss – the only Russian win – he scored slightly higher than his opponent for style and originality, and the Russian team had to ask for aid in removing the zits reading 'bloodsnob' from her forehead and the nettles from her ears.

And then it was time for lunch; and Zlatko sat at the top of the leader board so far with twenty seven points, Xanthippe running him a close second with twenty six. There were four on twenty five, one of them Nastya, the other three Mungo, Sandalla and Silvina. None of the other Russians had more than seventeen, and that was Leesitsa who had done well against Vya. And their team leader, Anatoli, had three.

That was sweet.

oOoOo

The elf Vya attracted something of a following of elves at the meal, to whom she spoke solemnly and then sent about their business with a becoming dignity. Agata Bacsó had been trying to prepare the castle elves to accept freedom; she was a realist and preferred to present willing livieried elves to any ministry snoop rather than be forced into freeing them by any future edict.

oOoOo

"I do not understand it; everyone knows the English cheat, is it that Durmstrang also stoops to cheating?" Anatoli demanded of Zlatko.

"Cheat? The English do not cheat. They are taught more advanced techniques younger, this is all; and too such techniques are now available in Durmstrang because we are flexible" said Zlatko "If you start accusing people of cheating, it is the way to have yourself prosecuted for the only breach of rules there has been was when one of YOUR countrymen cast an unforgivable curse; and when one of YOUR countrymen started the duel before the wand was dropped."

"It is surely cheating to cast without wands!" said Anatoli.

"Nothing about it in the rules old boy" said Zlatko "To my observation, crying cheat on those capable of casting wandlessly and non verbally is the cry of the inadequate who can't even manage non verbal spells. You just are so very inadequate you know."

Anatoli was now sporting the word 'idiot' across his forehead had he but known it; and in Cyrillic to boot.

"How do they hold up shield spells so long? How do you? I do not understand; it is impossible!" said Anatoli.

"Because we are drilled hard until we can of course you poor prune" said Zlatko "And we are too physically in better shape than you lot; thus we have the ability to perform better. _Mens sana in corpore sano_ you know. A very English concept but it works. I could beat any two of you up without even getting my wand out; and as you're almost as incapable as a bunch of muggles I have been wondering whether using wands on you not fists is strictly fair."

Anatoli shrieked and went for his wand at that point; and shouted,

"_AVADA KEDAVRA!_"

The blood group took an assorted headache; and Zlatko drove his fist hard into Anatoli's chin.

The Russian boy dropped like a sack of potatoes.

The heads were over there in an instant.

"WHAT is the meaning of this?" demanded Dolokhov "Agata, your boy has hurt mine!"

"After yours threw the killing curse" said Agata coldly "We all saw it; your boy should be pleased he did not have the mirror charm used on him. Zlatko however knows the higher mysteries of how to bounce it. Zlatko, what happened?"

"He asked if we cheated like – in his idiom – everyone knows the English do" said Zlatko "Which I could not permit to pass; so I pointed out that the only cheating so far had been by two Russians. He whined about not being able to cast non-verbally nor without the crutch of a wand so I told him he and his fellows were fairly hopeless. I did actually say they were as incapable as a bunch of muggles which might have been what caused him to lose his temper. Excitable type."

"The embellishment to his forehead had already been applied non verbally and without even gesture I presume" said Severus dryly "A nice piece of work, Herr Asimov. A physical response to the killing curse seems to me almost reticent however; certainly a very moderate retaliation. Sergei, I suggest you take your team leader somewhere where you will explain to him that it is only on account of his youth that Agata is not having him arrested; and as your team are little better than muggles I have no doubt that my team will be prepared to meet him since all of them know how to deflect the killing curse should he be so lost to shame as to use it on the piste. Herr Asimov, you should not use your clever tongue on the afflicted; it is most unfair of you to bait the terminally moronic."

Zlatko bowed and clicked his heels.

"I thank you for the just rebuke Herr Professor Snape" he said gravely, grinning inside at Severus' own clever tongue and well rounded insults.

Dolokhov was spluttering again.

He also feared Severus too much to make anything of it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The first match after lunch was between Venera and Xanthippe. Xanthippe got creative enough to summon six hundred large butterflies which transfigured as they circled Venera into bonds of tickling; whilst simultaneously the Russian girl's nose crooned Katti Krächzen's hit 'Fly me like a broom' and her feet, which danced the tarantallegra curse from the ankles down played 'We are the Inferii' in a honky-tonk fashion the group Kunstwerke had never intended.

"Ah, Madam Bacsó, now I understand the full implications of teaching your children the Dark Arts not the defences against them" said Silvina Snape with a curtsey "Only Dark Magic can be responsible for Katti Krächzen; and the terrible things that are being done to Kunstwerke are enough to frighten a dementor."

Agata, who had learned enough to recognise when a Snape was teasing, managed a smile.

"The Eulenspiegels are rather noisy" she admitted. It was a running joke since Jade Snape's time teaching as Nefrita Von Strang that Katti Krächzen was named as a dark creature in the school.

Venera had not managed more than the most basic defence and had not made any attack; and retired with a total of six points. Xanthippe was granted seven and nine and Xanthe told her that she had lost points for deafening the judges and had to extricate herself from her twin's boogey woogie bogey bugle hex with her nose playing Colonel Bogey in swingtime.

oOoOo

Zlatka was to go next against Domna; this was a relatively conventional contest save that Domna thought she was clever in summoning a snake from her wand; and was much disconcerted when Zlatka spoke to the beast in Parseltongue and turned it against its summoner, transfiguring the beast into the semblance of a basilisk. Domna fled shrieking as did some of the audience. The marauders just laughed; and the would-be marauders, wishing to emulate their elders, held firm and tried to look nonchalant.

"Oh honestly, do you think I'd make it a REAL basilisk when there's our kids watching?" said Zlatka "What sort of poor prune do you think I am?"

She had the win however as Domna had fled the piste; though the Russian girl did score fairly well for attempting such a summoning. Zlatka's smooth style – and perhaps fear of her that she was a Parselmouth – also earned her high marks however and she accrued a total of twenty seven for this match.

Leesitsa was against Xanthe; and it was perhaps her misfortune that having lost to Silvina in the first round, Xanthe was out for a win with perhaps even more determination than had she been on a par with her sister. It was another closely fought bout; Leesitsa was, in the opinion of both the Prince Peak and Durmstrang children, the best duellist of the Russian team even though it was Nastya who had a win under her belt. Non-existent phantasms flew at Xanthe; and Xanthe summoned her patronus to deal with them. Leesitsa had a good shield charm; so Xanthe summoned water from her wand aimed at the piste and rapidly transfigured it to ice under the Russian girl's feet. Leesitsa flailed wildly and skidded right off the end.

They were awarded an equal number of points; the judges were impressed by both. Xanthe might hope it was enough to carry her into the top eight; whether or not it would remained to be seen.

Yrdl went next against Nastya; and like Alexand ignored the girl's taunts; since the Russian girl did not wish an automatic disqualification for refusing to fight, but her comments were fairly filthy. Unlike Alexand Yrdl was ready for an attack on her mind; and her occlumensy shield was impervious to the attempts of confundment that Nastya attempted. Yrdl, presumably feeling that if legilimensy was to be the order of the day she may as well play that rule too, cast the boggart curse. Nastya shrieked in terror at a sight only she could see, fell over backwards and scrabbled along to get away, falling right off the piste. Yrdl cancelled the spell.

"Goblin cheat! She used a cheating goblin spell to make me see a boggart!" shrieked Nastya.

"Funny how I was taught it by Jade Snape then" said Yrdl.

"Using legilimensy is cheating!" screamed Nastya.

"Nothing about it in the rules" said Agata "Legilimensy? From a girl of only fifteen? I rather fancy Fraulein Kostikova that if you would argue that all goblins are inferior, that scarcely sits with a child who has not yet taken her ZP equivalents able to use legilimensy. So either you are mistaken or you are ready to admit that your racial imputations are so much rubbish."

In truth Agata was shocked – shocked that any child so young could manage legilimensy. Though Jade Snape and her father were fine legilimenses; and this girl was a protégé.

And a protégé, by her surname, Breuer, of Anett Breuer, Durmstrang's last Triwizard contender.

Nastya had hysterics at the idea of an animal poking about in her thoughts.

"I must protest that a creature like that be permitted to invade the thoughts of a pure bred witch!" cried Dolokhov.

"Why, are you so afraid they will be grubby enough to make her look bad if the girl repeats what she has seen?" asked Severus snidely "SHE was permitted a win using the limited legilimensy of confundment; I fail to see wherein lies the difference; save that Miss Breuer is a far more able legilimens and occlumens than your girl who hardly seems above the level of a junior in the skill. Her brute force option to follow up confundment with stupefaction scarcely shows finesse or subtlety; if she can only duel like a junior house playground brawl she should not be on your team and should not complain if she comes up against an able witch."

There was much consternation amongst the juniors and middles of Durmstrang's marauders to find that the English considered legilimensy to the level of confundment to be junior work. Agata might strongly suspect that this was bluff, but then, with Severus, one never knew. He did tend to expect rather a lot of his pupils.

"Miss Breuer has shown an able defence to the attack; and has countered it in a legal fashion. An end to this gamesmanship if you please, Herr Dolokhov" said the senior judge. Dolokhov flushed a dull red and manhandled Nastya away from where she was howling in anger and crying tears of rage and frustration.

He administered a hard slap to get her attention and told her to shut up.

The Snape girl was matched next against the hard-faced Spartak.

"So you can defeat the Germans with music; but do not think I am so soft" he sneered. Silvina permitted herself a small prim smile. The marauders could see that she held up several layers of solid shields, rising slightly with a hovering charm to prevent the piste being used against her and began to sing.

Most of the males in the room concentrated on her in goggle-eyed wonder; for she was using a version of the song of the veeli. Her temporary attraction was even greater than that of Frau Piret and even had some effect on the younger ones, though the musical marauders found they knew better how to resist. Silvina was, however, singing for Spartak and Spartak alone adding a twist, using his name and the power of Finnish naming magic as she sang in that language; and Spartak blindly turned and made purposefully off the piste to try to jerk Agata Bacsó into his arms, shouting

"Ya vas lyublyu!" at her.

Agata slapped him hard and Silvina, who had won as he left the piste, stopped singing.

"Fraulein Snape you could have stopped your song a few seconds earlier" said Agata.

Silvina swept her a curtsey.

"But then I should not have had the pleasure of seeing you hang one on him Madam Bacsó" she said.

"You Snapes!" said Agata. She was not about to admit enjoying the opportunity to slap this unpleasant boy.

Sigismund was half shocked and half laughing over the fellow being given an infatuation for his austere mother; it seemed rather….wrong. But it had been awfully funny too!

oOoOo

Alexand was to go next against Mungo. Alexand was an elegant wand worker but his spells lacked much in originality; and Mungo made short work of him by turning him into a duck-billed platypus.

The talented Zyrillis followed, against Vya. This was a tough match; Zyrillis knew how to twist spells to give them an extra component and make them hard to counter; and used the now signature spell of the Durmstrangers of exploding pustules, save he summoned not maggots but tiny wooden cuckoos which shouted their two-note call as the pustules exploded. This gave Vya something of the giggles and she plainly fought hard not to lose concentration. She was still giggling when she had the idea of collecting the cuckoos by wand control to mob her opponent and turn him into a long-case clock with his own face; and clock hands where the nose should be. Zyrillis struggled and called 'Pax!' when he could not extricate himself; and Vya made a second win. Zyrillis was much impressed; the English really were VERY creative!

Zlatko faced Sandalla; he was perhaps one of the best duellists the school had ever had. The little Princess held off some of his jinxes; continuing to cast spells at him wandlessly when she dangled from one ankle. The addition of bonds, the bat bogey hex and the tickling curse were too much for her however and she was defeated by the count.

Last to go was AHHa to give Anatoli time to recover from being cold-cocked; or since he had been healed, as AHHa said to his fellows, time to recover from the toddler tantrum arising from being cold-cocked.

No one could say that Anatoli was not consistent. He went for stinging hexes, the blasting curse, and mindful of the warnings of being totally disqualified, and so steering clear of the cruciatus curse he used the entrail expelling curse instead. AHHa countered everything almost scornfully.

"You are a pudding head" he said "My little brother in the first could do more than you."

And then he summoned the six foot blanc mange right over the top of Anatoli so it fell, enclosing him in its quivering pink mass. The Durmstrang marauders thought this hilarious.

Anatoli fought to escape the enveloping, suffocating pudding and finally fell off the piste in a mix of chagrin and relief not unmixed with pink confection.

"These Russians aren't normal" said AHHa "Why he never even TRIED to eat his way out!"

oOoOo

The children went in to Kaffee und Kuchen while the judges totted up the total scores to work out both the team scores and the top eight. The Durmstrang Marauders were holding an indignation meeting that Legilimensy was considered normal by the English and were demanding to learn it since Professor Snape had clearly indicated that he expected a level of some competency by juniors and they were all in the middle school. Yrdl explained that it was a MSHG thing; and suggested they ask Professor Von Freyer Nagy to teach them since Jade must have taught her.

Cacilia was about to be pestered.

She laughed as they presented their demands – Kjell had been voted spokesman – and said that she would see to it in the mornings if they were really such gluttons for punishment. They declared that they were.

oOoOo

After the children had eaten the light afternoon meal the senior judge arose.

"The schools have scored the following collective points. Cheestykrovy Shkola; one hundred and fifty two points. Durmstrang, two hundred and fifty three. Prince Peak, two hundred and sixty one."

There was a lot of clapping; mostly over the really poor score of the Russians.

"Close" said Severus to Agata "Less than ten points in it; really I think we can say our schools are on a par."

"Thank you Severus" said Agata. "I do have a rather good bunch at the moment too."

"Zhanargul and Takeo are a loss to your team of course" said Severus "I fancy if you had challenged us a year ago you would have won; and perhaps by a higher margin. Bless them, my upper sixth of this year and the year that left know how to kill Odessa agents but have very little idea of the art of duello."

"I imagine this year's offering manage both as adequately as my own team do" said Agata.

"Oh yes" said Severus "They did well not to get over excited – yours and mine both – to use the real magic they have at their disposal."

"Well such things as the Jade Wolf curse – as we call it – would scarcely be appropriate" said Agata. "Nor some of the more creative ways Zlatko has suggested for disposing of the unwanted."

"Our children have such gruesome imaginations" said Severus indulgently "Though I do believe there are very few capable of the subtler transfigurational solutions."

"That'll be Zoltan Nagy" said Agata.

Dolokhov was grinding his teeth; which had been the whole idea.

The senior judge went on,

"Equal top on fifty two points are Zlatko Asimov and Xanthippe Eulenspiegel; we awarded first to Herr Asimov as he accrued the highest single score for one of his matches. On fifty one points is Mungo Fraser; on fifty, Zlatka Asimova. Vya Kalinka has forty eight points, Silvina Snape forty five, Xanthe Eulenspeigel forty two and Yrdl Breuer has forty one. The whole top eight is separated by eleven points; this is perhaps the closest match we have ever adjudicated. We are looking forward to the playoffs after Kaffee und Kuchen where the first plays the eighth and so on. The points from these play-offs will determine which two fight for first and second place and which for third and fourth."

It may be said that Xanthe was just delighted to be in the playoffs after a loss; and thankful that a high score for style and originality had carried her there, just ahead of Yrdl who had also lost one match to Xanthe's twin.

oOoOo

Zlatko faced a pale and determined Yrdl; she knew that he was GOOD. And he felt her blood determined that she must not be defeated before she began; she must be creative and use every ounce of her ability. He would treat her with every respect as befitted a fellow marauder.

Yrdl pulled out all the stops; she tried to disconcert Zlatko with rapidly cycling changes of gravity at his end of the piste, which earned a call of approval from the older boy when he stabilised himself by the expedient of the hovering charm. Yrdl sprayed him with fire – he blew it away – and water, freezing it as it reached him; which he dealt with using an enhanced warming charm. And then the piste was changing about her – for Yrdl too had such a good shield that Zlatko gave her the respect of using the piste against her, not trying to break her shield – and the wood grew up as a grove of enveloping trunks that enmeshed her too tightly to even see out, imprisoning her; and Yrdl could hear Zlatko chanting to hold the transfiguration in place. She tried a counter-chant; but the count defeated her.

She was released and shook Zlatko's hand.

"It's no shame to lose to the best duellist I've ever seen" she said.

"I know a few who surpass me" said Zlatko "But you're not exactly a mean operator yourself kid; I expect to see wonders of you in the next few years!"

Yrdl flushed, pleased.

It was a surprise to all the visitors that Xanthe beat Xanthippe in the next match; but to anyone who knew the Eulenspiegel twins it was a foregone conclusion. Xanthippe was the louder of the two but Xanthe was definitely the dominant and that was ingrained habit.

oOoOo

Mungo and Silvina almost put on a show; their match was wordless and wandless and Silvina showed what she could do without using music. Explosive blasts of energy had the audience gasping and each cycled briefly through a variety of animals before regaining control. Animals flew from wands summoned by each; and were dissipated back into energy and the piste heaved and bucked until both contestants were hovering to cast their jinxes. Silvina's mistake was in not managing to block a featherlight charm; not something against which one normally prepared a defence; and Mungo summoned a gust of wind that puffed her lightly off the piste. It was a good win; and Silvina was first to congratulate him. The Durmstrang marauders were much impressed; Mungo Fraser was worthy of respect especially as he was not of the Group.

oOo

Zlatka played Vya next; and though Zlatka was good, the little elf pulled out all the stops and turned Zlatka into a statue.

This was not supposed to be possible so there were gasps; but Vya waited for the count and put Zlatka back to normal by touching her. Which meant that when Zlatka regained her senses she had to realise that there had been time elapsed; as her opponent could not contact her as part of the duel.

"I – was that a STONE transfiguration?" demanded Zlatka who was shocked.

"It's a Hogwarts solution for the NEWT DADA exam" said Vya "Because a statue can be stored until you need it, doesn't need food, doesn't try to escape and need not even be restored unless you need to question it."

"Neat" said Zlatka.

oOo

Top points went to Mungo with twenty seven; he would play Zlatko on twenty three, Zlatko having scored less highly because of Yrdl's highly original approach. Vya on twenty two would play Silvina who had twenty points and had outscored Xanthe who, despite her win, had only eighteen points for relatively pedestrian wand work. Yrdl also had eighteen points from her loss; and Zlatka had sixteen so again it was very close.

oOo

Zlatko and Mungo might also let themselves go; and indeed Severus stiffened the defences of the piste to make sure the spectators were at no risk. The children watching were in for a treat – those that could follow what was going on. Straining figures silent and apparently doing nothing but sweating tussled in energies beyond the comprehension of most of the spectators with sheer will; and finally Mungo slumped.

Zlatko had won.

oOo

Vya and Silvina faced each other next and they chose the medium of ritual to battle. Silvina sang; Vya danced. The patterns of their rituals interacted; startling effects occurred as they transfigured and counter-transfigured and threw off effects before changes were complete; and Vya finally prevailed by the expedient of summoning a couple of Pogrebin whose projected feelings of failure and hopelessness were enough for Silvina's guard to falter enough for her name to be tied to being a bunch of daffodils.

The match was over; Prince Peak had won the team title but the champion was Zlatko, with Mungo second and Vya third. It had been a good match; fun meeting the Prince Peak contestants and effectively swapping jinxes; and fun too making the Russian supremacists look so foolish.

oOoOo

There was much discussion after the visitors left; and on a number of topics. The would-be marauders were pleased to see a goblin and an elf who had been shown to be so capable to vindicate the views they were determined to hold; and were awed by what the big people were capable of.

The Musical and Jade Fag Marauder groups had a greater appreciation of the greater flexibility and depth the English team still had as compared to theirs and determined to work harder – especially on such things as legilimensy – to make sure that by the time they were geriatric enough to be permitted to duel they would have a better chance of winning more matches.

The Twin Marauders were impressed by their counterparts and acknowledged their wider range of skill sets and imagination. Zlatko and Zyrillis were the two of the group who had already learned to step outside the box; and the Eulenspiegels had it brought home to them that 'better than anyone in Durmstrang except Zlatko' did not necessarily constitute as good as they would like to be.

"They've had to do it more for real of course" said Zlatko "We had that annoying little trouble over Zhanni's uncle and his adherents and the lich before that, but really we haven't been fighting enemies at the school year in, year out like the English have."

"That might well change" said Zlatka grimly "The Russians are NOT happy. I expect they'll try to punish, as I bet they call it, the English first; after which they'll be even less happy because Severus so is going to squash them like bugs. I suspect they might try to take over Durmstrang the way Gerhardt kept trying to take over Prince Peak and Hogwarts. And we need to make sure the younger oiks are ready for them."

"More drill in the ECC for the marauders among us then" said Xanthippe.

oOoOo

Outside of the marauders the discussions raged about the inclusion of an elf and a goblin; and it may be said that the fairer minded of the pupils remarked that neither of the girls seemed to approach the competition in any way but that a human would do; and apart from their looks they seemed as any other English, capable and rather arrogant about it.

Aglaia complained of course; and sundry other blood snobs. And Eve won a quiet 'well said' from Wencelada when she said loudly,

"Yrdl Breuer has far more gentility than the majority of you who are being loud about despising her kind; because she actually has manners and dignity and some of you have but the manners of the sty and the dignity of the pig farting in it."

And when Vladimir went for his wand, Eve found herself defended by all the blood group.

"You learn pretty well, Eve" said Axel "And if I said I despised you last year I withdraw it; I guess you can recognise the realities of life."

"I guess maybe I never saw some of the realities laid out in front of me before" said Eve "Those Russians were disgusting; and I don't want anyone to think I'm like them."

In Eve's rather limited middle class life it had never occurred to her that anyone should feel so confident of their supremacy as to actually ignore the law about the Unforgivable Curses; and she was truly shocked.

She was also shocked that the Durmstrangers had not seemed surprised; and said so.

"You have to recall that we were in the second when Jade Snape killed Hedda Schrempf" said Wencelada "And she, who was Odessa's planted agent in school that the head could not get rid of, thought it all right to use the cruciatus curse as discipline on pupils, even eleven year olds; even a twelve year old with a heart defect – me – who could have died of it. Jade Snape cured me of a condition beyond any skill but chanting" she added "And chanting was an unknown skill to us. Only she dared stand against Schrempf. And we all cheered when she killed her, after Schrempf had very nearly killed little Sofie Thorvaldssen. We have seen this behaviour before; and we are still adapting, as a school, to NOT being of the same type as these Russians, not being controlled by Odessa."

"So – so Odessa really was like deatheaters?" asked Eve.

"Oh absolutely; from what I know" said Wencelada. "I guess you've had some odd ideas, Cherrytree; but if you want to learn better ones I guess we'll start over. I can't see us being close friends but we'll look out for you a bit more and sit on the bloodsnobs with more enthusiasm."

"Thanks" said Eve; who was beginning to realise, seeing the way the various groups of marauders sat on very real bullies here, just what marauders stood for; and what a fool she had been.

It may be said that Eve, who DID have a mannerly upbringing at bottom, wrote a letter of apology for her behaviour to Professor Snape and asked that he show it too to those she had written anonymous letters to if he felt they still felt any unhappiness over them; and added that she was finally starting to make friends at Durmstrang now she understood that her limited outlook had been responsible for her ideas that had been wrong, because she was much more impressed by the goblins of Prince Peak than by the unmannerly Russians. She received a reply thanking her graciously for her apology and explaining that the head did not feel it necessary to remind the Ubiquitous Marauders of the letters incident as they appeared to have entirely forgotten it; but that he accepted that too as a true apology to them and hoped that having worked out that she had behaved wrongly she would now be happier. He wished her well; and Eve thought he actually meant it. And that DID make her a happier girl; and she buckled down to work with a will because she felt much more at peace with the more pleasant members of her class, and able to ask them for help with the things she found difficult.

She had too signed up for the divination that she had been studying at Prince Peak before her expulsion; she was no seer but she was able to interpret signs as well as any, and Frau Peret permitted her to stay in the class for being a borderline sensitive. Eve was however shrewd enough to notice that any boys – good looking ones anyway – who were borderline needed less proofs than girls.

oOoOo

The Musical Marauders and sundry blooded were meanwhile watching the determined pursuit on the part of Frau Piret of all the good looking young staff.

She also had an eye to Attila, which simultaneously irritated and amused Attila's sons. Attila, now married to a very wealthy woman, was happy enough to spend Cacilia's money dressing well, as Cacilia did not mind; he liked to live well and as Cacilia knew he would have loved her for herself had she been a penniless orphan of no name there was no reason they should NOT live well. Which being so, it was plain that Frau Piret had not realised that Attila was a married man and saw him as a potentially wealthy prize in case her lawsuit fell through; as it seemed likely that it might.

Attila, disliking being vamped, ranged from the blunt to the downright rude; which Edmée Piret might find disconcerting but only made her smile more determinedly and pretend to find his comments nothing but amusing.

She went out of her way to be a friend to all the world; which meant that most of the female staff disliked her cordially for the falseness in her manner.

The prize – which Cacilia could not resist sharing with her stepsons for further publication – was when the woman had spent quite nearly an hour talking cooingly to Volodya, who regarded her with a dreamy look on his face before suddenly leaping up to scrawl frantically onto music paper.

"What are you writing, Volodya?" cooed Edmée "Is it an ode to little me?"

"Hush" said Volodya, continuing to scribble. When he had thrown down his pen with a sigh of relief, she asked

"May I see?"

"I didn't know you read music" said Volodya, tossing the manuscript over.

"Oh! There's no words!" said Edmée.

"What do I want with words? It's a tone poem of the forest" said Volodya.

"Oh Volodya! I should be quite hurt! I thought you were writing a song to me!" cried Edmée. Volodya stared.

"Why should I do that?" he said "I may be able to cope with you rattling off a load of nonsense when I'm listening to something else in my head but frankly you're such an irritating chatterbox I'd never find you in any way any kind of inspiration."

Volodya was often remarkably frank when he had just given birth to an idea; but Edmée was not used to him. She ripped the sheets of manuscript she was holding in half; and gave a brief yelp as Volodya, howling in real anguish, turned her rapidly into a dangling woodlouse and leaped to rescue his precious pages and use the mending charm on them before she ripped them further.

"Philistine! Thief!" he raged, and descended into Russian to give her his unvarnished opinion of people who destroyed the work of others before storming off to his own room. Perhaps fortunately Edmée Piret knew no Russian.

It had afforded a great deal of amusement to those who did; and Cacilia refused to be specific to the boys. So far as she was aware, the woman was still dangling with too many legs; though as she said regretfully, she and Attila had probably better return her to normal.

Sigismund and Zoltan collected the rest of their set and went off to commiserate with their beloved Professor Potishev who would obviously need his exacerbated feelings soothed.

oOoOo

Attila duly returned Edmée Piret to her normal form; and she cast herself into his arms.

"Steady on" said Attila "Rather an over reaction you know; Volodya DID have a point; tearing up a musician's work is a bit like someone scattering your tarot cards just as you've realised there's a rather important message in them. Artists are touchy like that. And Volodya really isn't interested in anything outside music; haven't you realised that yet? He sits there with the sort of dreamy look on his face that for most men means only one thing; but for him, it's the hatching of music."

"Oh Attila! Tell me what YOU would be thinking of with such an expression!" said Piret.

"Same as any man; like I said" said Attila "Big steak, fried onions, mushrooms, pepper sauce and roast potatoes."

She gave an angry little titter.

"Now Attila, don't tell me that a virile man like you doesn't think about romance and intimacy!" she said.

"Oh I save that for my wife" said Attila.

"Your wife? I understood you were divorced" said Edmée.

"Oh yes; but I remarried" said Attila "To my lovely young wife Cacilia; with whom I am proud to work. Why on earth would you think I'd be interested in a raddled old bat like you when I'm married to perfection?"

It may be said that Edmée Piret commenced to have hysterics; and Agallisse Schreiber took great satisfaction in throwing a jug full of water over her.

"You know, for a diviner, you're singularly hopeless at actually sussing out what's going on around you" said the Runes professor crisply. "Clovis Gierek is taken. Lazlo Ijas is taken. Attila Nagy is taken. Orlando Carcano is taken – twice- and Panayot Panov is gay" she winked hard at Panayot to tell him to play along. "And Volodya is wedded to his muse. Really my dear, not a very successful bit of divination, is it now? Oh and the head boy is taken too; also twice. So trying to get him to come to classes with his talented sister is really also a waste of time. I don't know why you're teaching if you're supposed to be any good, but if it's fleeing from an outraged wife I suggest you lay low and say very little. You'd need the song of the veeli to attract any of the adults here; though I expect that teenage boys raging with hormones will be ready to take anything that's offered on a plate."

"How DARE you!" cried Piret.

"I dare because I see you disrespecting my friends on the staff – and the males are friends and nothing more – and my dear friend Cacilia whose husband you are flaunting yourself at right under her nose as though she was not there. It's disgusting; and though Cacilia is too well bred to treat you with anything but dignity I, hotlips, am not. And it had better stop because Volodya is not the only one of us with an interesting range of curses; and as I have ancient runes at MY fingertips I have the capabilities of some very creative ritual magic."

Edmée Piret stormed out.

"Very entertaining evening" said Orlando Carcano. "Haven't had so much fun in the staffroom since the kids made the singing tit."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Outside of the unflattering response of the staff, Frau Piret did have her admirers; in the Upper Sixth both Adelard Löenzahn and Hasso Langbessen had enough latent ability to make training them worthwhile; it was a shame that Nikolai Nagy had not enough talent to divine his way out of a paper bag because he was flatteringly attentive too; and he must, reasoned Edmée Piret, be a relative of Attila Nagy which would give her a way of paying out the transfigurations teacher.

In this of course she was leaping to assumptions rather than using any of her hard-won skill in divining; since it was not taught hitherto in any of the German sphere schools and insurance diviners had to learn on the job. Nagy was a common enough name in several Eastern European countries. She made much of Nikolai even so, and permitted him to run errands for her, even though he was not proving an apt pupil.

Lower down the school some of the pupils had decided to follow up what might, or might not be a calling for divination; Yorick Thorwaldsen who sometimes had hunches proved adept; and so did Xanthe in his class, though Yorick's little sister Sofie was less drawn to the skill. She went along for curiosity sake and to represent the Jade Fag Marauders; and declared it not worth her time for a small amount of ability to give up her free time for that could be better devoted to library work for mischief.

Wencelada decided to follow the skill up; mostly because she might learn enough to teach to the few talented as a voluntary class when she was teaching in the school her parents were to set up in Spain; Eve was keen and this actually brought the girl a little closer to kind and gentle Wencelada. Eve could actually contemplate teaching in a mixed race school so long as there were strict standards of behaviour and mentioned this to Wencelada. Teaching was the sort of 'naice' career her parents would not mind her considering.

The school star, outside of Zlatka, was probably Sarah Staub in the fourth; she could actually manage visions in crystal balls and near trances over cards. Bianka Zhikova wanted to show up her countrywoman Zlatka by developing her – limited – skills; and Arkadi Rasputin felt it worth following up too because unusual skills were always in demand. Herwald Langbessen, who thought his brother Hasso was making a fool of himself, flatly refused to even see if he had any ability.

Most of the third had a lively horror of darkly thrilling females with an excess of scent and scary eyes; and Stig Trollkettil said rudely that you did not need to be a seer to predict that his brother Harald was never going to amount to anything. Pyotr Gorshok and Alois Dunkelschwann however had gone along and found some small skill; which as neither was much good at other lessons was at least, as Pyotr said, something they could do successfully. The Musical Marauders supported their classmates in making as much of themselves as they might and Sigismund joined them when he realised how easy the homework was to fudge even if he had not found some ability with rods and cards. Besides, then he could help the two other boys with the academic side of their homework; because he was entirely indifferent over whether he actually took any qualifications in the skill or no; it was just one more aspect to marauding.

It was not a large class; but Edmée believed that it was an adoring fan base. She would have been shocked by some of the more forthright comments from the younger members; but as they took care that she would never hear them, she continued in her falsely fatuous belief.

This was further fostered by the disgraceful scene of Adelard and Hasso resorting to an impromptu duel over who was going to carry the new professor's books; which Madam Piret just watched, charmed that these boys should go to such lengths for her. The noise attracted the attention of Cacilia; who, seeing the wand battle in progress turned both boys into sheep – it seemed like a good idea at the time – and demanded,

"WHAT is the meaning of this unseemly brawl?"

"Oh Cacilia, they were quarrelling over who should hold my books" fluttered Edmée.

The boys returned to their own forms, dangling from the ankle before Cacilia.

"You were quarrelling over so minor a matter? And actually drew wand in the corridor? In front of a new teacher, taking advantage of her lack of experience in discipline to go your own stupid ways? You will tell me next that you did not hear her call on you to cease immediately as of course she will have done; as any teacher would!" said Cacilia sternly, fairly well aware from the look she had seen on Edmée Piret's face when Cacilia had noticed that there was actually another professor present that Edmée had NOT called on them to halt and had been rather enjoying the effect of being fought over. "You are in the upper sixth; you are adults. You should be ashamed of such flagrant rule breaking in the manner of a babe of twelve! And I shall remind you both that if any innocent party been caught by your illegal wand work you WOULD have been criminally liable; you have both of you been in trouble before for similar offences and I should think by now you should have managed to be aware that you are about to go out into the world where your actions will be held accountable! You will for your punishment go to the library and find the statute books regarding actual bodily harm and write out for me both the section regarding negligent harm and the section on negligent harm of a minor by an adult since the most likely people to come into harm's way of your ridiculous playacting would be the babes! And when you have written out those two paragraphs, you will proceed to learn them well enough that in one week's time you will be able to recite them to Frau Piret and to me. Now get along with you and stop pestering Frau Piret like a pair of importunate brats enacting a crush on a teacher; you are old enough to be over such things!"

She glowered at the boys as she lowered them to the ground so they fled.

"They admire me you see; it is not their fault that they believe themselves in love" said Edmée Piret.

"Oh that is not their fault; but they don't have to embarrass you by behaving so badly over their ill-conditioned teenage lusts" said Cacilia. "TOO bad of them; a woman your age cannot but feel rather uncomfortable over such nonsense; you will have to learn to nip it in the bud, Edmée; and assert yourself a little more. That was why I took over the disciplining of them; I can see that you are not used to dealing with children, especially those adult children who feel their oats rather; it was not in any wise to disparage your discipline. I hope you will feel able to learn by example; it's not so long, you see, since I was a senior – I left the year before Agata introduced the prefect system – so I'm tolerably used to the little morons. Try not to let it get you down!"

"Thank you" said Edmée through gritted teeth. She was still wondering whether to most resent the 'woman of your age' – she was not quite thirty – the removal from her hands of the entire situation, or the assumption that she was a hopeless disciplinarian. But to admit to anything else would mean having to admit to having deliberately not stopped the duel; and Edmée knew enough law to realise that if anyone HAD been hurt in the backwash of spells, she too would have been criminally liable for NOT exerting her discipline over the pair.

oOoOo

The Musical Marauders were much disgusted by the behaviour of some of their elders; AND the encouragement shown them by a grown-up who should have known better; and proceeded to enchant clusters of suits of armour to sing 'Lilli Marlene' in the fashion of Barber Shop Quartets every time Madam Piret passed.

It was meant as an irony.

Edmée Piret was charmed that some senior was clever enough to make so sophisticated a charm.

Agata Bacsó asked for the culprits to stand when she got sick of the song and of Edmée preening over it. She stared as the small boys and one small girl stood.

"Well I suppose I should have realised that it was you who had the capability with the four part harmony" she said resigned "Because the only other people in the school capable of performing the magic couldn't hold tunes in a sack. Are you telling me you pestilential brats want to express some form of silly crush?"

"Oh NO Frau Bacsó" said Sigismund, bowing to his mother "We wanted to use it as a rebuke to those silly boys who can't keep their stupid drooling tongues in their heads to show them they are as silly as Barber Shop Quartets because we don't much admire the music. And we picked 'Lilli Marlene' because it suits to the style well enough and we wouldn't inflict Katti Krätchzen on anyone without danger pay."

Edmée Piret flushed; she actually admired Katti Krätchzen.

"I see" said Agata "You may remove all the enchantments if you please and write an apology to Frau Piret that she has been troubled by your dark arts in your attempts to rag the seniors. Most of whom who are silly enough to waste their time in an educational establishment mooning around in so morbid a fashion as I notice some have been will be entirely at a loss as to how you performed that sophisticated piece of ritual; which if they took less notice of their libido and more of their school work they might even yet have understood."

oOoOo

The Musical Marauders crafted a letter to be signed by all of them in which they duly begged Frau Piret's pardon that she had been troubled by their silly music and that they had forgotten her feelings in their desire to rebuke the boys so foolish as to make cakes of themselves over a grown up quite old enough to be their mother and they hoped that their efforts had not embarrassed her more than the silly boys themselves must have done. They added that Frau Von Freyer Nagy could probably brew up a potion to discourage the idiots if Frau Piret wished it because sex was such an awful thing to have happen to otherwise rational people.

Frau Piret seethed almost as much over the apology as she had over Cacilia's intervention; and stormed off to see Agata over it, claiming it to be insolent.

Agata read it.

"But wherein is any insolence, Edmée?" she asked "It is couched most respectfully and in the terms I suggested; I concede that you are only just old enough to be the mother of some of those boys who have behaved with such cheek towards you, but you are surely aware that small children such as this group really have very little idea of age; indeed I have heard one of such tell Zlatko that if he stays the two years at Prince Peak in post graduate studies he will be middle aged when he leaves because he will be twenty; to such, middle age starts when you leave the teens you know! Equally, to such, sexuality is a strange and not at all pleasant thing; something to point and giggle about when the older ones kiss because they think it, er, squishy. When you have been teaching for a while you will learn that to younger ones anything to do with romance or sex is a matter for derision; and too you will learn how to discourage the unwanted attentions of the older ones by hauteur of manner and setting a distance. You are very inexperienced; such small mistakes are only to be expected as you find your feet. Panayot attracts the same sort of attention from some of the older girls; he has learned to avoid being alone with them, and to turn the subject if anything dangerous comes up. Even as I firmly turn down the occasional invitation to the ball from one of the pupils; such things are of course not done. But there are always the odd bold ones who WILL try to flirt with a teacher. Now I beg you, accept this apology in the spirit in which it was written; and let us not have any foolishness about insolence; and try to remember they are only thirteen and twelve years of age."

"But how can they be? The charm was so sophisticated!" said Edmée.

"They are a remarkably talented group of children; that is how" said Agata "And I am very proud of my nephew who is one of them; as Attila is proud of his two oldest sons who are among them too. They are talented; but they are still only children and I am glad to keep them that way and not permit them to grow into self-aware monsters of vanity nor into little prigs."

It was a polite fiction that Sigismund was Agata's nephew as she could not acknowledge an illegitimate son.

"Is not Nikolai the oldest son of Attila?" demanded Edmée.

"Good grief, no; whatever gave you that idea?" asked Agata "He's not even Hungarian; Nagy is a common enough name in Romania too, he's no relation at all, not even from a different branch of the same family, any more than two people surnamed Schmitt are likely to be related."

"Oh" said Edmée, angry with herself for not checking more. Well she disliked ALL the Nagy family; Attila for his rudeness, Cacilia for her interference – and it may be said for being younger and prettier than her – and Zoltan for this apology. "Who then is Attila's other son?"

"Sigismund" said Agata "he is however a love child; but he and Zoltan get on so well it is nice to see. And what good brothers they are too to the babies! Baron Von Freyer is most happy in his stepgrandchildren as well as his actual grandchildren."

Agata was no fool; and though she did not know the history she could read well enough that Frau Piret had some despite towards the Nagy family; as well to remind her that they had powerful relatives.

Edmée got the message almost immediately; and retired without further cavil.

The loser was Nikolai Nagy to whom she proceeded to be blunt about his lack of ability; wanting someone on whom to take out her pique. Nikolai was devastated.

Hell however hath no fury like any lover scorned; woman or otherwise. And Nikolai was a boy who could hold a grudge and act on it. He went at once to the Jade Fag Marauders and asked how they had recorded the omniocular recordings of Adelard Löenzahn in flagrante delicto with the silly girl he had seduced the previous year; and once they found that he wanted to show up Edmée Piret they proceeded to loan him their view-o-sneaks and enchanted a connection for him to his omnioculars.

They did not trust him well enough to show him how to do it for himself.

Edmée was in the habit of laying cards and talking to herself about how they laid out the future. She was inclined to optimism. And she had come up with a way of circumventing any retribution from a German Baron such as Cacilia's father – though she really could not see why a baron's daughter should waste her time teaching unless the barony was impoverished, and if the girl had married Attila for his wealth even so she need not work; nor need he. The concept of job satisfaction was not one that the woman could grasp. Her idea was that even a baron could not blame her if his son-in-law fell in love with her; and she should emphasise that she was more mature and experienced, more womanly than a chit barely out of the schoolroom.

It had not occurred to her that Cacilia had far more presence, charisma and dignity than she, and seemed by far the more sophisticated of the two for her poise and presence.

Nikolai was no idiot; and when he viewed this conjecture he put two and two together to work out that a frustrated attempt to make Professor Nagy notice her had led to Madam Piret's interest in another of the same surname; and concluded – correctly – that she had just discovered that they were unrelated.

Nikolai had very little school spirit; he was there for the education and cared little for success in quidditch, duelling or Triwizard contests where such did not touch his personal ambitions. He had been mildly resentful that he had not made the duelling six – he had been seventh – but was aware that he would not have shown well against the English and so was glad that he had not been made to look foolish. He did however have enough understanding of the need for solidarity to maintain a good working environment to realise that Edmée Piret could cause a disaster if she so disrupted the staff.

He had not had any idea that Professor Von Freyer was married to Professor Nagy; but both were teachers of subjects he was taking and he had no desire to have any of his subjects disrupted.

He returned the view-o-sneaks to the Jade Fag Marauders with thanks; and under due consideration took his omniocular recording to Zlatko and asked his advice.

He learned several Bulgarian words not usually appended to dictionaries.

"The head needs to see this" said Zlatko.

"I didn't really want to have her ire old boy" said Nikolai "About bugging places like a junior and that sort of spiel."

"Well I do take your point" said Zlatko "And I also take it kindly that you came to me when a lesser chap might have either gone to Piret or left the things around for people to find. Tell you what; go and read the tale of Nosy Norman in the kids' fiction section – just read it – so I can say I've set a prefect impot and can't therefore in honour name names; and I'll claim to have confiscated this and then I can take it to the Head."

"I can see why you are head boy; I thought I was sneaky" said Nikolai. "You really are quite devious, Asimov."

"Thanks" said Zlatko. From Nikolai it was actually more of a compliment than otherwise.

oOoOo

Zlatko filed away some of the choicer Hungarian that Agata was betrayed into uttering when she viewed the maundering ambitions of Edmée Piret.

oOoOo

Agata showed a copy of the omniocular recording to Edmée Piret. The woman paled.

"Who has made up this rubbish?" she tried bluff.

"You know and I know that it is not made up" said Agata, coldly. "I want you to know that this intent to break up a happy marriage – not that you'd succeed – is why I am firing you; that and your rather disgusting encouragement of the older boys to make fools of themselves over you. I have tried to hint you to more reasonable behaviour; but as I have seen over the last few days, to no avail. You are disgusting. You cannot resist using your dubious sexual charms to cause trouble; and I hope that you gain some at least of your husband's inheritance because I think you're the bone idle sort who would not work if rich enough not to have to and who would then be away from honest folk living it up somewhere. And by the way, I am going to keep this recording just to make sure you don't let your vindictive streak loose and try to harm my school or my staff."

Edmée pressed the clear button.

Agata laughed.

"And that was why I showed you the second copy, Edmée; do you really take me for a fool? I held tenure and held on to my place as headmistress through the Odessa years; and you didn't survive that without a great deal of shrewd Machiavellian cunning. I want you out of my school before breakfast; and if I ever hear of you again, I'll be publishing this. You have made a mockery of my desire to have the rare skill of divination developed in my pupils and I shall have to talk very hard to persuade the governors to permit me to hire another teacher; and I really RESENT that. You have brought your subject into disrepute by being just such a flighty piece as the governors were afraid typified seers. And if I did not know that there were good, down to earth English seers I'd feel they were justified. You are a waste of space and you moreover already are getting lines where you pull your face into a sulk. In five years time you'll be ugly; try to find a little serenity and acceptance and perhaps you won't lose your looks as well as being a happier person. I had to say that though I know you won't take my advice; but now my conscience is pellucidly clear. Goodby Edmée; don't bother to say farewell on your way out. I hope this is the last time I see you. You may leave me."

Edmée had no choice.

And Agata set elves to watch her and make sure she did leave.

oOoOo

Agata contacted David Fraser by floo and sounded off about the vicissitudes of getting a divination teacher.

"I can suggest one" said David "She's from a long line of seers but has no ability herself; but she knows what to look for and how to recognise ability and how to test for it."

"Send her, if she'll come" said Agata.

oOoOo

Agata announced that there was going to be a change of Divination teacher as Frau Piret found sudden pressing reasons to leave.

The small fry clapped enthusiastically. It may be said so too did Zlatko.

Agata hoped her replacement would be better.

oOoOo

Salvia Pippin was only twenty-one; a neat smart figure of a girl, with light brown hair worn short and no pretensions to beauty, but with a pleasant face that would still be pleasing to look on in a hundred years time for its placid, serene features.

Agata approved her no-nonsense manner and was happy to introduce her to the school.

"I am sorry some of you have had your lessons disrupted and that I must of necessity go over what you have already covered to find out what talents you may have" said Salvia. "I am not myself talented though I come from a family stiff with insurance diviners. I do however know my stuff and I CAN tell if someone is faking it. I've seen enough people doing it at Hogwarts in my time. I also just will not bother with those who can't hack it unless you can talk very fast about why you feel knowing the theory would be useful to you; if for example you are an arithmancer and want to understand the workings of writing almanacs that include divination. Or a potioneer who wants to know if their supplier is giving you the goods when talking about how they determined how to gather stuff or if they're giving you mumbo-jumbo. I'm happy to run a class too of astronomy for potioneers and arithmancers on Saturday night; which requires no seer ability, though those of you studying divination may find it useful too, as might some geomancers. Aligning ley lines by stars is a speciality of Professor Fraser of Hogwarts; but I understand many geomancers find it handy. I'll teach such things as will be useful for other skills, not the full OWL – or rather ZP – level class. Anyone who wants to take it further must study on their own time; I don't know enough and I freely admit that. Please have your classwork books ready for me when I come to your lessons and I shall acquaint myself as quickly as I can with your abilities."

The older boys were much disappointed; Salvia was generally what most of them would describe as 'starchy'.

After a class with her the younger pupils and the girls waxed enthusiastic; and Zlatka announced with satisfaction that Fraulein Pippin might not be able to do divining but she surely did know her stuff and could teach.

Agata heaved a sigh of relief.

She should have asked the English in the first place.

oOoOo

The school settled down again; and if Fraulein Pippin was not so aggressively sexy as Frau Piret, even the older boys had to admit grudgingly that they were learning at least as much from her as they had from their idol. And perhaps more, since none of the class was taken up by mooning over the lovely professor. They strongly suspected that if they tried to moon over Fraulein Pippin she might do something violently and originally ENGLISH to them.

oOoOo

Cacilia Von Freyer Nagy was ready to do something English to somebody over the next piece of excitement in the castle. She sounded the fire bell the instant she approached the potions dungeon to collect some notes she had left in there and became aware that noxious fumes were issuing from it and the floor was stiff with ashwinders; and then she retreated to cast a bubble head charm and to chant up a protection against heat to go on and deal with whatever might be there. She pulsed Attila and Clovis and Lazlo to help her; and got Volodya too, who promptly started up a protective chant to cover all of them and to provide plenty of air, his sweet voice singing stongly.

"As the English say, Tunes make you breathe more easily" said Clovis, having been exposed to muggle advertising while he was working with Draco.

The fire was one of the worst that could occur; a spilled bottle of Chinese dragon's heart blood was at the centre of the inferno, and ashwinders and salamanders cavorted happily in the magical flames. The four blood group professors drew on the other blooded of the castle to increase the efficacy of their spells; and Cacilia reflected that Severus and Krait, tackling such a thing alone, and before they had discovered how to truly use the blood bond, were lucky to get out alive. And had they not got out alive, it was doubtful that the research would have been done that made this a frightening, but not unattainable, thing to do.

It took time; and the children had needed to be evacuated into the courtyard in their pyjamas. And it was snowing.

Her concern was answered by a pulse of reassurance.

oOoOo

When the fire bell had sounded, the school had risen obediently – and it may be said that the musical marauders took the time to poke Alois Dunkelschwann, who slept like the dead, and thrust his still somnambulant arms into a dressing gown and feet into slippers – and went out into the freezing night air. The more sensible – which included all the marauders – had also grabbed their quilts.

Sigismund went to his mother and touched her arm as she stood looking angry and afraid, worried that the children would take harm.

"Mother, bring them into the maze; we'll use its protective runes" said he.

"Protective…. Very well; you can tell me about it later; you and Zoltan lead the way" said Agata. One did not stop to argue with marauders; even when they were quite little boys and one's own son. She used a sonorous spell to summon all the children to follow; and Sigismund and Zoltan lead the way right to the centre of the Ingwaz rune, drawing on the power of the Eihwaz rune for its protection on the way, and using the Ehwaz rune's ability to cause change as well as movement to enlarge the area enclosed by the Ingwaz rune to make sure all the school could get inside. With the Ingwaz rune, the aspects of home and human warmth – figurative, but able to be interpreted – might be activated; and an effective magical roof set up to stop the snow falling as well as the raising of the temperature to a comfortable level.

"Thor's Bunny Slippers!" declared Agalisse Schreiber "WHO was so talented as to set this up?"

"Us, Professor Schreiber" said Corneliu. "That's why we planted a maze; to protect the school. Nifty, ain't it?"

"It's brilliant" said Agalisse who was no more stinting of praise where deserved than of censure.

"They ARE good, aren't they?" said Zlatko "Here, you sprouts, us big ones will take over powering it now you've set it going."

"Thanks Zlatko" said Zoltan. It was a little tiring after all.

Zlatko started chanting and his co-marauders and the four blooded of the fifth joined in; it drew on the very power of the living hedges and beyond them of the forest to power the warming power of the rune.

The Musical Marauders watched and learned; because they knew how to set it off but were still uncertain how to keep it going. It appeared the very hedges could do it; and that was a lesson to be learned. Life force was powerful.

And their efforts in setting up the maze were already justified before it was even fully grown and completely activated!

oOoOo

Back in the dungeon the four got the fire under control with Volodya's protection; and all five then chanted a summoning ritual to find all the stray ashwinder eggs that had been left that might then cause subsidiary fires; and as there was no great loss without some small gain Cacilia put a freezing charm on them to use as potion ingredients.

There were precious few other potion ingredients left in the dungeon. And had she not left notes that she had returned for, the castle might very well have burned, and the school been poisoned by the fumes. She opened a window and summoned a magical breeze to dissipate the noxious vapours, sending them high and dissipating them with eddies of air once they were well away. Someone was in trouble; jars did not knock themselves over, and nor did cupboards unlock and then open themselves.

The five felt where the children were – that was quick thinking of the Musical Marauders – and rather than bother to negotiate the maze apparated directly there.

Cacilia approached Agata.

"Frau Bacsó, the magical fire is out and the poisonous gasses dissipated. As the entire school could have been poisoned in their beds had I not, fortuitously, gone so late at night to the dungeon I think we have to consider that this may have been a deliberate attempt by some enemy to destroy the school and murder all its pupils. Cupboards do NOT unlock themselves, nor jars fall out without human agency. I shall attempt, in the morning, to do a ritual to discover who touched the key last; since it was hung up in its proper place. A rather careless piece of care after leaving such a mess." The school were gasping in fear and horror.

She could only hope that the key would give clues; the burning meant that the jar and the cupboard door would be beyond yielding any clue.

"Is there much damage?" asked Agata.

"Yes; there is no longer a potions dungeon" said Cacilia "At least, not in terms of facilities. The NEWT students can be glad that they had not yet begun their long brewing for the exam; but just about all of the ingredients have been burned to a crisp – except those that exploded – and the mess is indescribable. It will take the elves under my supervision several days to get it in a fit state to work in, not to mention structurally safe; and will cost about eight thousand galleons to re-equip. The loss of potions made by myself and especially Professor Rebet before me to keep on hand – antidotes and such – are irreplaceable without a great deal of work."

"I shall see the governors first thing to arrange that the equipment at least may be replaced" said Agata. "Very well, school; follow on back to the castle and go to bed. Tomorrow will be a holiday; and you may sleep in. Are you sure it cannot have been an accident, Cacilia my dear?"

Cacilia shrugged.

"It might have been I suppose; but who would be poking around in the dangerous ingredients cupboard? I keep all the flammable things together in a fire-proof cupboard; Ihor installed it after his accident. Severus does the same; it was the same substance that ruined his face when he put out a similar fire at Hogwarts before he started keeping the flammables separately. That WAS an accident – a silly girl playing some stupid prank. But if whoever spilled it did it by accident, why did they not own up and ask for help? It starts smoking almost immediately. Or at least they might have shut the wretched cupboard to stop the rest of the dungeon going up in flames! If it was an accident, and the culprit then put the key back so neatly they are the soul of selfishness and stupidity."

"Unfortunately my dear, those descriptions cover all too many teenage wizards and – especially – witches" said Agata. "You have the key?"

"Yes; wrapped in a clean piece of paper to preserve the evidence" said Cacilia.

"School" said Agata, using the sonorous spell to reach all the pupils "If there is anyone who is ready to own up to what happened in the dungeon, Frau Von Freyer will give you until ten of the clock tomorrow morning to do so. And if you do I have no doubt she will be more lenient for honesty. I for one would prefer to think this was a bout of stupidity and selfishness than that there has been a deliberate attempt to kill us all in our beds. Or but for the cleverness of the activated runes in the maze to kill us all with fairy flu or worse from the cold."

The children went back to bed, chattering excitedly; and Agata ordered the elves to take them all hot coffee and check if any needed hot water bottles. There was still the chance that it might make some of the children ill; and she knew well that if Wencelada had not been healed by Jade the shock and the cold would almost certainly have killed HER at least.

There would be time to follow up who had done this in the morning.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The school straggled out of bed next morning, torn between being glad of a day off and irritated at whoever had got them cold, and without any but the meagre supplies of pepperup potion in the school hospital – most of such lived in the potion dungeon – that was strictly rationed to the illest.

And there were those who were ill.

Tildi had taken Vissy and Radagas to the elf tower in the forest; Clovis had demanded that she and the children go to safety. Attila had sent Cacilia's old nurse with their babies to Cacilia's family home; but there were more delicate children in the school. Periklis Theodrakis in the second was one of them; and little Elfleda in the fourth, still suffering some residual weakness from the cruelty of Hedda Schrempf, though at least the blood group could support her and dissipate the worst effects. Desolina and Scholastica Uccello were both delicate and took colds easily; and Desolina was really very ill. Agata was furious. And nobody had come to own up; so either it was an attempt to kill all the school or someone was very dishonourable indeed. She had all the staff rotating on watch in case there was any follow up attack.

oOoOo

Cacilia had learned her ritual magic from Jade Snape; and if there was anything about ritual that Jade did not understand it could be written large on a small piece of paper. The ritual Cacilia was using was a simple finding ritual; rubbing the key with a fine piece of paper to find the microscopic particulate matter left by the last person to hold it; who, Cacilia hoped, might too have been sweating in some trepidation. The fine paper was folded as a flapping bird; and released to find the person concerned.

It flapped its way to the fourth year common room; and hovered over Sarah Staub.

"The head's office; now" said Cacilia.

The Swiss girl looked horrified; but had no choice to comply.

oOoOo

"Perhaps, Fraulein Staub, you would be good enough to explain what you have against me that you tried to kill all the school in their beds" said Agata with a voice like cold steel rasping.

"I – I didn't – I mean, I never wanted to kill anybody! It couldn't do that, just stuff in a jar, could it?" said Sarah.

"Professor Snape has a scarred face and his wife went into premature labour through saving Hogwarts from the effects of the same 'stuff in a jar'" said Agata coldly. "Because it is highly toxic; and only because enough professors of high enough skills managed to get to the dungeon before the fumes suffused the whole castle was a disaster averted. As it is thousands of galleons worth of damage has been caused; I wonder what your father is going to think of getting a bill for eight thousand galleons for your criminal damage – and a law suit on behalf of Desolina Uccello for an extra year's school fees if, as seems likely she must repeat a year with the sickness your dangerous and wicked behaviour has caused through being outside in this weather. I shall certainly advise the suit from the Uccellos. You are a wicked and dishonest little girl."

"I am not dishonest!" cried Sarah, who had paled at the amount.

"Yes you are" said Agata "I GAVE you the opportunity to own up; and you lied by your silence. You are also a thief; a thief of whatever you went poking in the dungeon for, and by your criminal damage of all the other burned equipment and ingredients – some of which are difficult or impossible to replace – and a thief of time because you have taken from the whole school their potion lessons until the dungeon is fit to use again and re-equipped. And you have stolen too from Desolina her health and her chance of doing well in her ZH's; and as Desolina has a teaching job PROMISED to her providing she gets her grades you have probably robbed her of that job, and the school to which she was to go of a chanting professor. So, what were you up to poking about in the inflammables cupboard? Taking a key that is hung up out of reach for a good reason? Some kind of lust potion?"

"NO!" cried Sarah "I read in divination books in the library that some divination can be carried out by the way fires burn with different powders; and I thought that now I have been shown to have a talent I would like to try that."

"So you thought to pre-empt being taught in a safe and controlled fashion by Professor Pippin in due course and would steal ingredients without proper knowledge of what you were doing and muck around experimenting in a subject that has its own dangers with dangerous substances because….. why? If you do not trust the abilities of Professor Pippin – and I see no reason for you to doubt her ability as a teacher – that is still no excuse to do anything so risky! And when you knock over a jar that then starts to smoke, do you think it reasonable behaviour to just leave it to burn down the school? And without even shutting the inflammables cupboard before leaving? Yet you put the key back to hide your crime; and it IS a crime; because you are a nasty, sneaky, dishonest little girl."

Sarah was hard faced to hide the fact that she wanted to cry.

"But I did not want to tell anyone I had knocked it over in case I got into trouble!" she said. "I did not think working on a subject I am good at was wrong!" she said trying to look eager.

"And if you thought you might get into trouble, then you were WELL aware that you should not be in the potion dungeon breaking into the inflammables cabinet" said Agata coldly. "If you wished to experiment with such forms of divination, do you not think it might have been better to have asked Professor Von Freyer for a small quantity of what you wanted – or better, to have asked Professor Pippin to ask on your behalf and have a supervised session?"

Sarah flushed.

"I – I asked Professor Pippin and she said I would touch on that when I was older; but I was really keen" she said.

"And has it ever occurred to you that Professor Pippin may have vetoed your desires to try this for some very good reason?" said Agata "You silly little girl! As well be permitted to dabble with human transfiguration at your age; which is a subject too difficult for most fourth years to cope with. I am going to send for Professor Pippin; and we shall hear what SHE has to say on your blatant disobedience to her wishes in your study."

Sarah waited while an elf fetched Salvia; who when she heard what the girl had been up to stared in lively horror.

"You egregious little idiot!" she cried – her German was perfectly colloquial having been passed to her magically by David Fraser – "Do you think I told you that you should not be doing that yet for the fun of it? You are a double-dyed, grade 'O' class one prune of the first water! And you don't even read the texts from which you get your half-baked ideas or you would KNOW why I told you that such would wait!"

It must be remembered that Salvia was not so very much older than a schoolgirl herself and in high emotion devolved into schoolgirl ways of expressing herself.

"I don't understand" whined Sarah.

"Well my good ass, permit me to spell out in words short enough for you to understand" said Salvia "As you could not READ what the book said; that fire reading is a risky business; firstly for the relatively – relatively note you – minor danger of attracting ashwinders and salamanders to your reading fire; and mostly because a significant minority of fire readers can become so attracted and involved in what they see that they are drawn into the fire. You may not have noticed this, as you appear to be retarded, but fire BURNS. Fire readers do NOT undertake this operation alone; particularly not when they are not experienced. You must have rats in your head chewing on your brains!"

Sarah went white again.

"Well Fraulein Staub, I hope you are beginning to appreciate the enormity of what you have done" said Agata.

"Oh I am very sorry, Madam Bacsó; I did not mean to risk anyone, or cause so much trouble!" cried Sarah "Need my father know? I – perhaps if there is anything to pay I can start to pay it off when I leave school!"

"As a minor, your father is responsible for your debts" said Agata coldly "And he is going to know when I send for him to take you away; had you had the honesty to own up even after failing to do the proper thing in the first place when you first caused the fire, I might have kept you; but I can't have a liar as well as a thief. You don't have any real concept yet that you could have caused the deaths of hundreds; and might yet be the death of Desolina. You are a disgusting object whose selfishness is boundless. Go and pack."

Sarah did sob then; and begged and pleaded, swearing she would apologise to the school and do anything.

"Get out of my sight" said Agata. "You had the opportunity to pull back from an illicit venture; you had the opportunity to limit damages by shutting the cupboard and finding a teacher; and you had the opportunity to come to me with your excuses before Frau Von Freyer had to find you with ritual. You ran out of opportunities."

Sarah fled; the head's eyes were blazing in anger.

oOoOo

Salvia sat down heavily.

"I hope this little idiot will not mean that divination is withdrawn as a class for her dangerous acts" she said "I can see with a rather dodgy teacher preceding me – the kids WILL chatter loud enough to be overheard – and now this that the governors will feel it a failed experiment."

"Fortunately I have the final arbitration over what subjects I permit" said Agata "And I wish you to stay on; for those who WILL use it responsibly. I am very sorry; she was your star pupil, was she not?"

Salvia shrugged.

"Yes; when she actually listened" she said "Though Zlatka is also something of a star pupil and she DOES take things seriously and responsibly. But if you retain my services and I have one every three or four years who is worth training, it's worth while doing – at least I think so. And there are a number who may learn enough to be clerks to insurance diviners, or to use it in conjunction with other skills. As the astronomy pupils do."

"I am glad you take it with philosophy" said Agata. "I wondered if you would ask me to give her a second chance."

"Never" said Salvia "It is important that any seer or diviner be true to themselves; and if she cannot be true to others she will never be true to herself. I'm glad you were the one to be in charge of ticking her off; I could have scragged the little moron."

"Well I am glad we are in agreement" said Agata "I never like to upset my staff if I can avoid it; by my actions anyhow. I can hardly avoid HERS causing you distress."

Salvia shrugged.

"It's her loss" she said "ARE you going to bill her father?"

"Yes I damn well am" said Agata. "Poor Desolina!"

"What's she taking?" asked Salvia.

"Dark Arts, Potions, Ancient Runes, Chanting and Care of Magical Beasts" said Agata "Five subjects."

"Well I'm not very busy; I can help her catch up ancient runes and the defence side of the Dark Arts" said Salvia "And the theory side of potions. Study lessons over with her, you know; if the other professors will let me know what she's supposed to be doing I can just chat to her while she's recovering. Damn that Staub girl; I feel a bit responsible as it was over my subject."

"There's no need" said Agata. "If you would work with Desolina I'm sure she'd be very happy; and I know the other professors of her subjects will put in time with her as well. It's her long potion I have worries about."

"She could stick to a shorter long one like Veritaserum" suggested Salvia "Not that I'm any expert but I did take it to NEWT back in the days when Professor Snape was teaching it at Hogwarts. My friend Annis was good at it; AND she's a seer so I was really pleased someone in the class was. Well, what a very unpleasant interlude to be sure!"

"Quite!" agreed Agata.

oOoOo

The one bright spot of the incident was the revealed brilliance of the Musical Marauders in their use of runic pattern magic. That explained a lot about their interest in art in magic; and Agata sent for them and told them that they were probably responsible for saving the lives of more than one of the delicate students with their enchantments.

"Is Desolina going to be all right?" asked Sigismund "She's such a really nice girl, it's a shame some rotten oik has mucked over her chances! I say, Aunt Agata, as she's sort of low anyway, can't you send her home by elf until she's well and let her use a time turner when she's well again to be here as well as at home recovering? Separated by distance ought to negate a lot of the effects of being in two times at once; or we could use runes to send her back in time when she is well."

That was theory, thought Agata, that should have been beyond him.

"Let's not take too many risks" said Agata "I don't think she's strong enough to recover if she is in two times at once, however far removed in distance. And as she wants to teach chanting in Beauxbatons I think that the thing we need to concentrate on mostly is preserving her voice. Cacilia has taken a trip into Berlin for the ingredients for chest strengthening potions so it is on THAT we shall concentrate; and I shall go and see Madame Maxime and ask if Desolina might retake, should she need to, whilst teaching at the same time."

Sigismund nodded.

"Broni was coughing bad enough; and I say, can we do for Desolina what we did for her, and chant out all the infection? She's been peeing like mad but we passed the crap through from her lungs."

"You bad girl Bronislava! You should have reported to the hospital!" said Agata.

"Chanters are more effective ma'am" said Bronislava.

"Very well – do you have any realisation that it's a ZH level chant to pass infection or poison through the bladder?" said Agata, to whom the idea of chanting was too new to have thought of it as a matter of course, but she did at least have some idea what was what in all the subjects in her school.

They all beamed at her.

oOoOo

Desolina sat up and took notice, the lassitude of the semi-consciousness falling away as the Musical Marauders chanted and sang to rid her body of infection and weakness They were aided by Zlatko, who had come up with the idea independently and had approached Agata, only to be told that he well combine efforts with the Musical Marauders.

Desolina stared at the younger chanters.s

"That's a NEWT level chant" she said.

They beamed at her too.

oOoOo

With the chanting, Desolina was up and about within the week; and back in school shortly afterwards, where she found the Asimov twins ready to help her out. Zlatko was taking all but Care of Beasts of the ZHs she was studying; and, it may be said, two others. The Asimov twins had taken their chanting NEWTs – it being the English exam – a year early so Zlatko said cheerfully that was all good revision for using it in the real world. Gisela ran through what Desolina had missed in care of Magical Beasts, and with the good offices of Salvia and the other professors just chatting to her as she convalesced Desolina felt that she was not behind at all.

Her convalescence had probably not even been necessary; but she was known to be delicate and the school nurse insisted, even with the power of the chanting that was so impressive.

The Musical Marauders had scoffed quietly on their own time; because they had, after all, added enough twists to make sure that Desolina should never be delicate again because, as Zoltan said, if she was to be teaching French children she needed all her strength as well as a good grade to help defend against the dark creatures that constituted the students of Beauxbatons.

The others had agreed.

oOoOo

The disruption to the potions lessons was much felt. While the dungeon was being cleared and made safe – some of the walls were structurally suspect for the level of heat they had received and required some rather specific transfigurations and shoring up spells to restore them to safety – Cacilia decided that the various classes must do more theory and could catch up on practical work later. She dictated to them the potions they would be making when back in the dungeon, and performed a few demonstrations with some of the hastily bought ingredients, talking through the changes to be noted while the classes watched and made notes. It was dull by comparison to a proper lesson; and Sarah Staub was much resented. And very few of the lower and middle school at least actually availed themselves of the opportunity that Cacilia suggested they take of learning by heart the ingredients of the new potions they had written down.

Cacilia took the ZH class with her as some compensation and too as something of a lesson to spend the weekend in Munich, where the best potioneering supplies were to be found, buying the huge quantities of ingredients that were to be required.

"What with all this I think I'm seriously off divination" grumbled Adelard.

"Why, do not feel like that, Herr Löenzahn" said Cacilia "Professor Pippin has said that you are one of her better pupils and hopes you might take the English OWL or French ELM in the subject alongside your ZHs; she said that you and Zlatko are the two she felt confident of having a chance to pass."

"Did she?" Adelard preened slightly. "Well then I suppose it behoves me to carry on. Professor Piret was a wonderful woman but Professor Pippin is very knowledgeable also. Do you know why Madam Piret left, Frau Von Freyer?"

"Yes" said Cacilia "But I hardly think that I wish to discuss it with anyone; she tried to cause much trouble."

Adelard goggled.

"Let me cure you of your infatuation you poor prune" said Zlatko quietly. "Piret thought that Professor Nagy was rich because she didn't realise that it's Professor Von Freyer's money, and she was overheard gloating over her tarot cards on an interpretation she chose to make that she could get between them and seduce Professor Nagy into the sort of drooling incompetence some of you daft types showed her so she could get him to put aside our professor Von Freyer and their twin babies. And I only tell you so you don't blether on to Professor Von Freyer about how wonderful the blighted old moo was because when she did everything except strip in the staffroom for Irritable Attila it's got to be a trifle embarrassing for both him and his wife. She's predatory my boy; and if you don't believe me, ask Nikolai Nagy who she made up to, to make Professor Nagy jealous when she thought they were related; and dropped like a hot cake when she found out they were no such thing. HE was the one who overheard her and very properly reported the matter to me. I had no choice but to go to the head; so in a way I'm responsible for getting her sacked because I LIKE our staff and I don't want some outsider trying to cause trouble."

Adelard's face drained of colour.

"Well I know you don't lie, Asimov" he said. "She was then USING me?"

"And Hasso Langbessen, Nikolai Nagy and some of the lower sixth too" said Zlatko. "She coo'd at me and ran her hand down my arm – uggh! I quoted her the statute books about teachers sexually harassing pupils; it was designed to stop male teachers coercing female students for favours to get better grades but it could have covered her unwelcome caresses. Your trouble is, Löenzahn, that you lack actual affection in your life; and believe me, sex is NOT a substitute. You should concentrate on making friends and not looking for sexual gratification; one day you'll find a female friend also becomes a lover and a wife. But there is no substitute for a deeper relationship like friendship."

"You're a fine one to talk, carrying on with two girls" said Adelard.

"I'm going to marry both Xanthe and Xanthippe because you can't separate them" said Zlatko "And I don't 'carry on' as you put it. The extent to which you see us go in public – kissing and cuddles – is actually as far as I DO go; I've never been caught in flagrante delicto trying to go all the way and nor shall I be. I'm a little more continent than that. Because I have confidence in my FRIENDSHIPS; and I was friends with my girlfriends long before we started getting physical. You're not a bad chap, Löenzahn; and I guess you must be pretty miserable to need to lean on the crutch of lust to make yourself feel better. Like you need to make a big thing of your pure blood; though I hope those idiot Russians have cured you of that."

Adelard flushed.

"They were rather awful" he admitted "But I do sort of owe it to my family to marry well."

"Strikes me" said Zlatko "That if you owe so much duty to your family, your relationship with them is less close than with your professors; or you wouldn't be thinking in terms of duty and owing. You'd do what was right by them without considering it. And for that I guess I'm sympathetic. I thought you had a rather decent older brother?"

"He's all right; I don't know him that well" said Adelard.

"Well if I were you, I'd make an effort to get to know him and tell him that you're finding relationships difficult because you feel a little isolated; and ask his advice" said Zlatko. "Even if he doesn't manage anything constructive, you'll be opening a brotherly dialogue. I ask my sister about everything; I don't always take her advice, but it's still good to have a sibling to discuss things with – and maybe he'll be able to put things into perspective for you. Sorry, that was all a bit priggish; but I guess someone had to say it, and as I'm the one dumped with the job of head boy that someone had to be me."

"I appreciate your efforts Asimov" said Adelard, who was enough of a prig himself to not actually resent a slightly lecturing turn of speech. "And thank you for filling me in about Frau Piret; I must say I am shocked. She must be quite shameless!"

Zlatko encouraged that turn of thought; the lust filled infatuation turned readily to disgust when Adelard's idol was toppled firmly off her pedestal; because he knew that Zlatko did not make things up.

It would at least, thought Zlatko, make things more comfortable on the shopping trip for Cacilia if she did no have to listen to the idiot maundering on about how wonderful the wretched woman was.

The shopping went well enough; it was impossible to get the level of stock that was required but Cacilia could at lest get enough for the rest of the term and put in an order for as much as possible to be obtained through any source necessary; and the pupils might assist the elves assigned to Cacilia for the trip in taking back as much as they could.

There was a brief interruption when an elderly lady demanded to know if Durmstrang was attempting to put other, small schools out of business by buying up all the stock.

"But not at all, Gnadige Frau" said Cacilia "Have we then taken of stock you need for your classes? So long as I have the vital ingredients for my ZH students, I am sure we can negotiate to share; I would not wish to deprive any students. We have, you understand, had a disaster; a naughty girl stole a key to try some bizarre experiments of her own and when she set fire to the potions dungeon did not think to alert anyone. She has gone home in disgrace, but we have no stock at all."

"Oh!" said the elderly witch. "Most unfortunate; not of course a problem a day school has to contend with."

"No; there are of course advantages and disadvantages too in a boarding school" said Cacilia. "And whichever one has, and however careful one may be, there is always the odd pupil who dances to the tune of another piper or is plumb disobedient and manages to cause mayhem. I am told it happens to every potions professor at least once in their career; I hope that is my once and it will be behind me."

"You must have lost a lot of stock" said the witch.

"Yes; somebody's father is being sent a bill for eight thousand galleons to cover it" said Cacilia "We get through rather a lot of ingredients with so large a school; of course it is my duty too to brew medical potions for winter ailments; something else I imagine YOU are fortunate enough not to have to contend with as your pupils have their parents to do that."

"Not that all of them do" said the witch "Children would be so much better some of them if they did not have parents."

Cacilia grinned.

"So I'm learning" she said "Though I was shocked when Professor Snape first said so when he gave me advice on beginning teaching."

"You know the famous Professor Snape? Is he then as grim as his photograph?" asked the witch curiously.

"Only when he's being photographed" said Cacilia "He has a dry, understated sense of humour; he also advises letting the children believe they have been poisoned in the fourth year to concentrate their minds on antidotes. I like him. Now, what can I help you with? We have rather bought out the stock."

"I need fwooper down" said the witch "For the confusing and befuddlement draught."

"Ah, vital for your ZP students" said Cacilia "I can if need be borrow some from Schloss Adler or Prince Peak; let me see, I have two jars; and they have the price on them so if you will care to take one, I shall put another jar on order here."

"Excellent; my thanks" said the witch "I had not expected so kind and reasonable attitude from Durmstrang I must say."

"Oh now we have got rid of the perfidious influence of Odessa we are able to return to proper usages of courtesy" said Cacilia "Did you know it was Gerhardt Grindelwald's more idiotic supporters who suppressed the custom of rising for Professors as they enter a room? Supposedly because he was the only person worthy of respect. As Agata – Agata Bacsó, our head – has said, in fact it showed that he was worthy of only a small amount of respect to have to ban signs of respect to any others. But now our pupils rise for us when we come in for meals as well as in the classroom and bow or curtsey to the head as is proper like in any decent school. And it were ridiculous to disrespect the smaller schools, because Durmstrang cannot cater to all the children of eastern Europe; though as we do have some dropout after ZP we could possibly take some students from those schools who do not teach further than ZP, as I believe Schloss Adler has agreed to take on those who wish a higher education."

"You have no objection to the free school then?" asked the other witch.

"Why no; there is a philosophy in Durmstrang that is the legacy of supremacists but that is not going to change overnight; it is good that those not eligible should have another school to go to" said Cacilia "I was at school with Nefrita Von Strang who has started the free school; and I support her wholeheartedly. I am sure too that the new laws she has managed to have passed will be of help to your school, to be able to accept the fees of the wealthier goblins."

"Well, I don't know about that" said the other potions mistress "I don't think some of our other pupils would like it and I'm not sure….."

"I must say that I think you would be surprised" said Cacilia "Those goblins I know socially are excellent people; I should be happy to teach a mixed race class in Durmstrang. Of course, most of the goblins I know socially are English; but the English have shown the way in such matters. Well, well, I mustn't keep you; good to have met you. Oh, let us exchange names first; in case we become involved in correspondence."

"I am Silvia Mensch; I and my sister Gertrud run the local school" said Fraulein Mensch.

"Cacilia Von Freyer und Nagy; I teach under my maiden name Von Freyer" said Cacilia "Less confusing than having two Professors Nagy in school as my husband teaches transfigurations."

If Fraulein Mensch had been feeling slightly contemptuous of someone who knew goblins socially, the revelation that she was a 'von' made her re-assess; because the English goblins she knew socially might well be of an elevated social class, such as was rumoured but that Miss Silvia had always scoffed about.

And if a 'von' thought it all right to teach goblins, well it was to be considered.

Which had been the whole idea of Cacilia's bringing up of the subject.

oOoOo

Back in the school the first were gloomily not sure whether they preferred the tedium of the theory lessons on potions to their generally not very successful attempts to date in the potions dungeon – the whole year bar two varied between barely acceptable and very poor at potions, with neither the exciting interludes of those dire enough to blow up cauldrons nor with any outstanding pupils. Desiderata Eichstengel, one of the less tolerant German girls, and Max Varghund were in the dubious position of being relative class stars rising on occasion to the dizzy heights of an 'E' grade. Valda Schutzstab, another disdainful German girl, whose pepperup potion had turned green not purple before the fire, declared that potioneering was a low subject and only for low-borns, not pure-bred witches like herself.

"Pure bred fiddlesticks" opined Ilarion "I'm pure blood myself; and I may not be much good but I'm jolly well going to work at potions because it's one of the subtle arts; it's only ignored by those who haven't got enough brain matter to be subtle; and what's more you might have pure blood but you don't have a 'von' to your name; and if Professor Von Freyer rates potions enough to teach it, then I should think that says it all."

Valda sniffed.

"I expect she is not really entitled to it; because if she were truly high-born, she would not be teaching" she said.

"Shows what you know" said Marlene "Her wedding was reported in 'Hochhexen' last year; and I know it's a rag but they DO know who is who you know. She's the only child of Baron Georg Von Freyer and she teaches like her friend Nefrita Von und zu Strang und Luytens because she has the calling."

Valda tossed her head.

"Well I still say potioneering is low" she said. "And presumably however well born Professor Von Freyer may be – IF she is really a von – she is next thing to a squib to have to rely on potioneering; the highest art is transfiguration, and I say I doubt she can…OW!"

Cacilia had come into the classroom at that moment and Valda dangled in the air as a four foot woodlouse.

"So nice to have your opinion of my abilities, Fraulein Schutztab" said Cacilia "As you may see I am perfectly adept at transfiguration; I happen to consider potioneering a more rewarding and important subject, you see. I suppose you were spouting that old nonsense that Odessa promulgated that potioneering is low; largely because few of them were much good at the subject because Potion-making requires finesse, subtlety and brains which are commodities in short supply for those of Odessa and their ilk. They had little time for Arithmancy either. You may spend the lesson considering your nasty and rude views Fraulein; and then you may study the lesson over in detention and you may moreover write me an apology for your rudeness in implying that I go by a name to which I am not entitled and for belittling a subject which the education board sees fit for you to study. Very well, class; the rest of you may take from the elves who have brought you equipment a heat-proof board, a bluebell-flame burner and a cauldron; and we shall see how many of you can manage to remember enough to collect the ingredients for the memory potion. I shall check each of you before you begin to brew; and then we shall have a potioneering lesson as it was intended. We are a little cramped in an ordinary classroom so do have consideration for your fellows; and just for once because of this you may work in pairs. Each of you is however to list separately what ingredients you need before comparing notes; I want to see what you do remember."

Remembering the ingredients was not something the would-be marauders had a problem with; remembering things and training the memory was something the Musical Marauders had emphasised as important. They all received a nod of approval from Cacilia. Renate, who was working with the kind Daffodil, had Cacilia wincing.

"Fraulein Steen, you had better work on your own" said Cacilia to Daffodil "Fraulein Dunkelschwann, I shall work you through this potion with Herr Zdun whose partner had also better work alone, or perhaps he might work with Fraulein Steen. You both need extra help; the rest of you may begin once I have checked your lists."

Zlatko had informed his two young countrymen that the last Hogwarts Triwizard champion had begun his career in the potion dungeon setting fire to cauldrons; but by sheer hard work had taken it to the English equivalent of ZH at a grade 'E' which meant that it was possible if not to shine to at least be better than adequate; and they had passed this on to their fellows who planned to do their best,

Besides they liked Professor Von Freyer.

Valda did NOT like Professor Von Freyer. It was a most embarrassing way to have her false assumptions disproved; and her leisure time would now be eaten into by detention when she had hoped to skate on the lake if the ice was bearing since it had been cold for the time of year with the early blizzard and still not warm since.

Cacilia had Valda's number however; that she was a nasty little blood snob; and moreover one could not permit rudeness about the staff to pass. Valda was ruthlessly put through brewing the memory potion and adjured to try to remember that if she aspired to be a high born lady, a few manners would show this up better rather than nasty and ill-bred comments giving such aspirations the lie.

Being called ill-bred hurt more than anything else; and Valda was NOT in a good mood.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Adelard Löenzahn was assiduously doing his Divination homework – laying out the Tarot cards for a general representation of what might happen in the near future – when he leaped up and bolted to Zlatka's study that she shared with Gisela and Desolina.

"Zlatka, see if you see what I see in my cards" he said.

Zlatka got up and wandered over to his study.

"Someone's in danger… cartomancy isn't my thing you know…. Something to do with water?"

"I see someone drowning" said Adelard "And I say, I think it's sort of immediate."

"Then we must go out to the lake right away" said Zlatka "Time to worry about it being bounds breaking and to send for an adult if the worst is true."

Adelard nodded and hastened out with Zlatka. The moon shone brightly on the icy lake; and threw the stark shadows of where the ice was broken in the centre of the gleaming surface, the water dark beneath it.

Zlatka pulsed the older members of the blood group; and Adelard was left crying with surprise as various figures apparated – in an non-apparating zone too – to appear beside him. Zlatka apported directly above the hole and turned in a dive deep below the ice, casting a warming charm as she did so, and casting a finding spell based on a sentient mind. She soon had a figure scrabbling more and more feebly at the ice above it, hardly able to reach for being weighed down by clothes; and a stroke or two took her to the child's side and her arms around a little body. She pulsed Zlatko; and then she and her burden were being apported back with the assistance of all the bloodgroup and then Zlatka went directly to the hospital.

"Zlatka! You are wet! What has happened?" demanded the nurse.

"This little idiot, I don't know yet who it is, went out on the ice….there are skates" said Zlatka "I've been casting warming charms; the kid is out of it now, but was conscious, just, when I got there. I've still got a warming charm up; shall I help you get these wet clothes off?"

"Yes please" said the nurse. "Why, I think it's one of the first years; a German girl though I don't know her name."

"Nor do I" said Zlatka "Not one of the pests I take an interest in; though if it had been I think I might have known if they were on such silly mischief bent. Thank goodness there's new pepperup potion since the fifth had to review it."

"Indeed" said the school nurse, pouring a goodly dose into the stripped and dried little girl, who was in a nightdress and in bed before even the steam started issuing from her ears showing that the potion was working satisfactorily. "Your warming charms have probably prevented her from taking serious hurt my dear; now let's see to you."

Zlatka stripped obediently and cast drying charms – she had already cast the same on her hair, knowing the dangers of letting heat escape and wise to the fact that up to a third of the body's heat escaped through the head, especially if the hair was wet. She submitted to a dose of pepperup potion and a clean hospital nightshirt and a bed.

Her twin, Gisela and Adelard and a selection of staff came into the ward.

"Ah" said Cacilia "Valda Schutzstab. I suppose this little piece of naughtiness has something to do with her having been in detention with me; she is a wilful, rude and naughty child. Zlatka, my dear, I hope you have taken no harm risking your life like that."

"Oh I apparate well enough that I was never in danger" said Zlatka "I have good warming charms and if anything went wrong I have absolute faith in the power of twin to have Zlatko heave me out. She'll be the child then that half our fags were having an indignation meeting over while they were making toast for us having been, er, 'excruciatingly rude and guttersnipish about things she knows nothing about because of being terminally and egregiously dim even if she can manage Arithmancy' as one of them put it."

Valda had come to by this time and had to listen, squirming, in the next bed.

"Valda" said Cacilia "I can see you are awake; and I think you should explain just why you were on the lake. If you have a reasonable explanation it is time to come up with it to avoid further censure."

"I wanted to skate!" declared Valda "And you kept me in so I couldn't go out and skate with the others and it was too MEAN so I went anyway!"

"The whole idea of a detention is generally to be moderately, er, mean you know" said Cacilia dryly. "It being a punishment. Do you mean to say, you stupid little girl you made the ASSUMPTION that the others had skated without bothering to ask? I never heard of anything quite so mutton-headed in my life; positively retarded! Anyone might take you for French, indeed for so silly a lack of thought. For your information, Fraulein, nobody skated; because the ice was NOT bearing. And if you think I would give up MY skating to give you a detention you might think again. Well, you are not only disobedient to break bounds by going out at night, you are also stupid and thoughtless. You hardly seem capable enough of thought to even be at school; well, we must consider what is to be done about this disobedience when you are out of the hospital wing; I have to take this to the head. Bound breaking and causing others to be in danger is in HER purview."

"What do you mean? I haven't put anyone in danger!" cried Valda.

"No? What about Zlatka Asimova who risked her life going into the water to rescue you?" said Cacilia.

"She said she was in no danger!" said Valda.

"Perhaps; perhaps not. The truly brave are often deprecating about what they do" said Cacilia coldly "And though she IS very able, suppose Adelard had not alerted someone of her calibre when he determined by divination that someone was drowning? He is not a good swimmer, nor especially skilled at charms. If HE had gone in, as I am sure he would have done if Zlatka had not been there, he would have been at considerable risk. And if he had done the proper thing and got a teacher, you might have been dead which Adelard doubtless would have realised and he is too responsible a boy to risk that."

"Well they were already breaking bounds" said Valda sulkily.

Cacilia slapped her hard.

"You are disgusting" she said "HAD they been breaking bounds Zlatka STILL risked herself for your sake; I should have thought a little gratitude for having your life saved was called for; and as much to Adelard. They were breaking bounds for YOUR sake because Adelard read in the cards that someone was drowning AS I told you. He asked Zlatka for help. They broke bounds TO FIND OUT WHO WAS DROWNING! And as to who else was risked, what of the elves who test the ice? If one had slid through your hole and drowned, don't you think that's rather much?"

Valda shrugged.

"Well who cares about an elf?" she said.

Cacilia slapped her hard on the other side of the face.

"Easy to see you really ARE lowborn" she said "Those of us who have some level of birth have a thing called noblesse oblige; which means a duty of care to one's underlings. And even if you had not considered such an elf as a person, the cost to the school of a trained elf is not low. You would be liable for the purchase of another you know; or your family would be morally obliged to give the school any elf they owned. You have none of the instincts of a lady. You are neither remorseful for your misdeeds nor are you even grateful to your rescuers; perhaps you should reflect on what might have happened had not Adelard been a competent diviner and Zlatka an exceptional witch."

"I can guarantee that one of the things that would have happened is that half the first would have celebrated her drowning with a party" said Zlatka cheerfully. "Professor Von Freyer, can't we throw her back in? She owes Adelard and me a life debt so that means we get to throw her back doesn't it?"

Valda shrieked.

"I'm afraid it doesn't work like that Zlatka" said Cacilia.

"Pity" said Adelard "Of course I'm not so very good at reading the cards yet; it was my mistake that I thought it was a PERSON drowning."

"Oh well done Adelard" said Zlatka. This little twerp had actually tweaked the pompous little tick's strings hard enough to make him break out in sarcasm!

Valda dissolved into tears.

"I'd dose her with glumbumble juice if she keeps that up too long" said Cacilia to the nurse.

"Oh I shall; there's nothing really wrong with her, thanks to Zlatka and her warming charms" said the nurse "I'm only keeping them in overnight for observation with pepperup potion as a prophylactic. Zlatka can go if she likes and promises to keep quietly to her bed for the evening."

"I'll brew you cocoa and fetch and carry magazines and books if you like" said Gisela.

"I'd rather you fetched and carried my prep" said Zlatka "If I don't have to stick to durance vile I can do my prep on my knees and Frau Kluba will have to put up with my essay on dung looking like it was written while I was being composted."

Gisela laughed.

"She won't notice" she declared.

Zlatka and friends and supporters withdrew from the hospital wing – Zlatka in a dressing gown an elf was sent to fetch her – and Valda was left with her own thoughts.

oOoOo

Valda's interview with the head was not comfortable. Agata Bacsó made it quite clear what she thought of naughty irresponsible children whose own selfish desires brought trouble unnecessarily to others. That Valda had not been punished by circumstances by being ill was, the head said coldly, purely due to the skill of Zlatka and the fortuitous ability of Adelard. Valda had to submit to a caning and to being moved to sleep in the hospital wing for the rest of the term under the nurse's eye, and would be accompanied at all times by an elf under orders to stop her going anywhere she was not supposed to go, as she could not be trusted; and would not be permitted to skate at all even if the ice held but would instead go with her elven escort on nice healthful walks around the edge of the lake.

That was in a way a double punishment; not merely missing something she loved but having to see others participate in it.

The head however made it clear that if Valda would not learn to behave in a reasonable manner, she might go home instead in disgrace with her wand broken; and Agata had her fingers crossed behind her back when she threatened this since she hoped the child would not accept expulsion. Expelling two in one term did not look good. Agata did not see it, as Severus saw it, as a personal failure; but she knew it did not reflect well on her own discipline. Valda should have a chance to redeem herself.

"And do remember you owe a life debt to both Adelard and Zlatka" said Agata "It is as binding as a ritual; and one day it may come back to haunt you if you cannot find a way of showing your gratitude."

A life debt in the wizarding world was a serious business; the debtor could become ill if there was no way to repay it. The number of times members of the blood group had saved each others' lives had made them almost forget the matter; since the blood bonding was a tie so profound it went beyond the tie formed by life debt, in effect nullifying its effects.

oOoOo

Adelard discussed the life debt with Zlatka.

"Well I don't want the brat to owe me anything" said Zlatka.

"That is no longer your choice" said Adelard "I went to the library and looked it up; the life debt must be repaid, or the recipient willing to pay it or they may suffer dreams and other uncomfortable symptoms. And so may the person so owed."

"Hmm" said Zlatka "I wonder if it accounts for the blood oath I made to become a Marauder? We swear to protect and serve, to give up our childhood if need be and to die to protect the weak."

"I never realised so much was asked of you!" Adelard was scandalised.

"Oh we go into it willingly" said Zlatka. "Come on; library work. I don't want that little millstone hanging round my neck. I think blood snobs are disgusting."

"She has some wrong ideas I think about how to behave" said Adelard "Perhaps I should make myself responsible for teaching her so her obligation to me is less onerous."

"Well if you're prepared to take her on and see if you can make her human, good luck" said Zlatka. "Well I suppose you've found your pure bred bride; isn't that where life debts can lead? You certainly want to make sure she grows up half decent."

"Oh dear me" said Adelard.

"Well perhaps you can fake up an accident and let her rescue you instead" said Zlatka.

"That might be as well" said Adelard "Ah, you are correct, Zlatka; here is a paragraph on Vehmgerichten and the like who are expected to risk themselves for others, whose oath supersedes any accidental bond-oath of debt."

"Excellent" said Zlatka. "I thought it must be so or Nefrita Von Strang would have half the ex-werewolves in Germany dreaming about her and being a flaming nuisance. I'll put my excruciatingly talented mind to a way to rescue you from the girl's unwilling oath-gratitude."

"Thank you" said Adelard. "Oh that's interesting; your blood-oath to protect comes under the same exceptions of saving kin, or loved ones; which is sort of the thing anyone might do and so it's not deep enough to form the magical bond."

"Yes? Ah, that too explains other things" said Zlatka, thinking of the bloodkin whose ties were closer than kin or friendship, even between those who had not even met; because if they did meet the recognition would be immediate and mutual.

oOoOo

The good thing that came out of the affair was a justification for teaching divination.

Had not Adelard had some training he would never have been a strong enough seer to have a vision, especially as he had never even spoken to Valda before. The accidental reading showed that those of even moderate power might avert disaster, and Agata made sure to write this up for the governors.

Salvia made Adelard write it up in case he ever pursued his studies to NEWT where a portfolio of personal divination experiences was presented as part of the exam rather than expecting all the candidates to produce visions to order. She signed it for him and asked Agata to countersign it too. Adelard was not sure if he would pursue any such studies; but it was worth keeping a portfolio in case, say, he decided to apply to work in an insurance office as an assistant assessor. It opened up his options.

oOoOo

"All right kid; I've been looking up life debts because I want to know what I've let myself in for" said Adelard to Valda.

"Why should I owe you a life debt? All you did was look at measly cards and make a wild guess" said Valda

"You know, Schutzstab, you are going out of your way to exploit the magical bond between us if you think I'm going to let you off being so rude to a final year man without getting creative in jinxing you" said Adelard grimly "Just because I can't do the showy stuff that the duelling team do doesn't mean I couldn't leave you bound, tickled and vomiting slugs if you really go out of your way to be more than usually obnoxious; and by the shock on your classmates faces at your rudeness they wouldn't lend a finger to protect you and I bet any prefect would look the other way. I've been an ass at times myself but to be so rude to a sixer? Honestly! Especially as I am actually trying to help you as well as to get over heavy ground lightly myself. I could, you know, have written up my homework and said that the cards indicated a drowning; and then when you were found drowned, my result would have been validated but I should not have been in trouble for not going out personally to look. Nobody could have expected me to decide to get spooked and actually take it seriously. After all, YOU apparently don't take looking at measly cards seriously; so I guess you WOULD ignore a warning if you saw one."

"The rest of us are going to take any warnings jolly seriously from now on, Löenzahn" called Klaudius Slevernagel "Even if all we manage to land is an undersized Kraken like Schutzstab. There's just no need for that level of stupid rudeness."

"Thus public opinion" said Adelard. "Well, you can leave it and see where that gets you; because I'm not actually bothered if you repay it or not. I discovered that the one who does the saving only gets problems if they have issues with the one saved; and actually you're too insignificant a little girl for me to actually care enough to get worked up over you having the bad dreams. If you want to apologise for your manners you can find me in the senior common room or in my study. Try not to kill yourself again until I've safely left school; I really don't want to be inconvenienced again."

He was applauded politely by most of the rest of the first as he left.

Adelard rather liked that; he had never been popular being too pompous to attract much liking, especially in little ones. But he found that a descent into sarcasm amused those who were spectators. Adelard knew he would never have the biting wit of Zlatko; but even amusing babes was flattering. But it would be improper to foster it just to court popularity; they had supported him because he was in the right and behaving with tolerable dignity.

In which Adelard was quite correct; his irritation tightly controlled had given him a dignity that neither his pomposity nor his occasional loss of temper had ever done; but one did NOT readily jinx a junior into a ball or scream at them; far too lowering to be provoked thus!

His cold telling off actually reached Valda further than the official tickings off she had received; because he COULD have just written up his card reading. Deep down she was beginning to realise that she did owe him her life; and Zlatka too.

oOo

The would-be marauders had lost interest in Valda; they were more interested in trying to find out how the magic in the maze worked. After the musical marauders had caught them trying to poke around and had cuffed them well, Nedelya asked outright.

The Musical Marauders grinned.

"Now if you only take serious notice of Ancient Runes you might figure it out" said Zoltan "It's all based on rune power; how we planted it and the choices of runes and what plants we used. If you get to be full marauders we'll share all its secrets; but for now my advice to you is to do the same as the rest of us and concentrate on your studies and library work and use clever research to pull any japes you go for. And no copying mind!"

"Can we use chanting to enhance the effects of things that we might be dodgy about doing with wand work?" asked Daffodil.

"I don't know; can you?" said Bronislava in a schoolmarm voice.

"Well is it allowed?" asked Daffodil.

"Oh certainly; so long as you know how to undo the effects" said Beremud "Be a bit off if you used it to create some effect that's amusing in the short term but rather irritating if permanent; I mean, the prefects would be waxy if you made them purple for evermore for example."

"That's dull anyway" said Xanthos. "Just jinxes are sort of a bit pedestrian."

"Good man" said Lindhard.

"He has the idea" said Beryx.

"Library work" said Corneliu.

oOoOo

The would-be marauders disappeared into the library to read obscure books in their leisure times – at least when it was not fine and they went outside to take advantage of the good weather. They amassed a selection of odd lore and snippets of almost useful information; and found where the Musical Marauders had marked certain elder Futhark runes. This temporarily sidetracked them; and they carefully removed all the markers and rubbed out pencil notes and smugly informed the Musical Marauders that they had done so.

"Well that's Marauder solidarity" said Sigismund "You got anywhere yet?"

"Not entirely" said Ilarion, hedging a little. "We have lots of notes of interesting stuff."

"Hmm, well, have you cross-correlated it yet to see if any two snippets make an idea?" asked Sigismund.

They brightened and went haring off to their common room and notes.

"Well it keeps them quiet" said Zoltan "And they should be the better educated for it if not any wiser."

oOoOo

The cross correlating came up trumps.

"That Hieroglyph I found about transfiguration" said Ilarion "Can we use that in conjunction with chanting? I just found something on activating runes, like the Musical Marauders did. The word's pronounced 'Sah' and I reckon we could draw it – hook thing, ibis, louvered round window and stick with dibbly bits in the middle. If we draw it on a flagstone with wand writing and add a chant, we could transfigure anyone who stood on it by activating the rune and kind of being more specific with the chant."

"If you think I can design a chant in Ancient Egyptian, think again" said Daffodil "I'm struggling with Greek and Saxon thank you."

"I don't think it has to be all IN Ancient Egyptian" said Nedelya "And as I'm the one who's good at transfigurations, you'd better let me draw it because I can infuse it with – with – with something."

"Good idea" said Ilarion.

"What are we going to transfigure?" asked Xanthos.

"Their clothes" said Ilarion "And make them into Ancient Egyptian stuff; and if we can leave them pulled for a moment into the shape of Egyptian tomb paintings."

This caused much hilarity and enthusiasm.

They decided to dig around a bit more and add the hieroglyph for clothes, 'hebsu' and chant 'Sah hebsu' seven times for good luck before chanting in German – the language they all had in common and native to none but Marlene who was therefore to check the grammar – and then fell to squabbling over how many lines the chant should have and how many syllables per line. Daffodil recalled reading an article about the number twenty three and its ability to be made up of prime numbers and suggested a chant using five, eleven and seven syllables on each of three lines. This was not too difficult a task so the others agreed thankfully.

"Why is twenty three important?" asked Nedelya.

"Dunno" said Daffodil "I was only reading part of the article because the rest was wrapped around fish in the market."

"Well it's jolly enterprising" said Ilarion "Even shopping has opportunities."

They fell to work with more enthusiasm than poetic style.

It was decided that they should use another flagstone to change people back to normal; which meant doing the whole business twice over to operate in both directions.

They almost went for advice at this point; but Daffodil recalled that with magical exclusion circles the direction the chanter faced made a difference and so they oriented themselves very carefully and Nedelya drew the inscriptions carefully with her wand four times over facing in each direction. She had pencilled them first and then they all chanted the Egyptian as she went over them with her wand. The glyphs glowed faintly; but not enough for anyone coming along the corridor in a hurry to notice.

They had picked a corridor near an archway into a cloakroom where there would be much passage of people and where they might withdraw into the archway to observe the results.

It was really very satisfying.

The conspirators may not have managed to make their victims walk like Egyptians – the Musical Marauders could have made a guess and probably made a good guess about where to do the research, but it was out of the league of babes in the first – but even so it was hilarious to see as their first victim Zyrillis Genauschüren walk onto the step, assume a starched linen kilt, jewelled collar and striped headdress and as the fact of his suddenly changed attire was sinking in to put his foot down on the next flagstone and resume his normal appearance.

Zyrillis stopped, turned around, and went back the other way.

"Efficient" he said; and went on his way, ignoring his brief foray again into the fashions of some three thousand years and many miles distance.

"I said that they wouldn't get too waxy if we made them go back to normal" said Ilarion with satisfaction. "We've got a good chance of catching most of the school before somebody decides to care enough to make us take it down."

They munched apples and drank pumpkin juice contentedly watching the entertainment; the major entertainment being in the various looks on the faces of the passers by as they became, briefly, Ancient Egyptians rather than in the change as such. The faces reflected a wide range of emotions from startled surprise to horrified outrage; and there was cheerful approval from the Musical Marauders who went cheerfully to stand on the flag that changed them, each in turn doing the walking like Egyptians poses just for fun. There was some disappointment when Zlatko went through at such speed that he did not notice – or rather it did not impinge on his consciousness for several strides when he came to a sudden halt, turned, saw five giggling faces and said

"Oh it wasn't my imagination then' and carried on at his long legged stride.

Catching Vighard Sternschuppe of the lower sixth was not so funny.

Vighard was furious that his dignity should be so interfered with; he, like Harald Trollkettil, was very conscious of his image. Where Harald would probably only have shouted at the children and then would have reported them, Vighard took issue personally; and when Attila Nagy came along to find out how true was the rumour of a transfiguration taking place in the north lower corridor it was to find that Vighard had grabbed Marlene as the smallest and most delicate child and was twisting her arm up behind her back whilst casting stinging hex after stinging hex at the other four who were valiantly trying to rescue their friend.

"DESIST!" said Attila.

The small ones fell back at the voice of authority; Vighard gave a final vicious wrench to Marlene before letting her go. She collapsed in a heap, fainting.

Vighard dangled from one ankle; and Attila gave the spell a twist to make it pull. The boy yelled. He was suspended in the transfiguration zone too and consequently found the suspension rather drafty in his nether regions.

"Can give it but can't take it eh?" said Attila, kneeling by the little girl. "That's nasty. Fortunately I know quite a lot about medical transfigurations; I'll make it a bit more comfortable for now then I'm taking her directly to the nurse. You lot may follow at your own pace." He apparated away with Marlene.

Jape forgotten the others ran as fast as they could to the hospital wing, breaking most of the school rules about running in corridors, on stairs and using senior passages as short cuts. They were fortunate not to be caught.

Attila laid Marlene on the bed, telling the nurse curtly that he had caught a senior twisting her arm rather viciously; and proceeded to use a magical projection of the child's shoulder to use in a chant to heal her, picking an ancient Irish chant 'Ault fri halt di, féith fri féth' meaning 'joint to joint, sinew to sinew' because that was appropriate for a separated shoulder. He had a lot more knowledge of the power of twenty three than the young conspirators and repeated the chant twenty three times while Marlene gazed rather worshipfully on him, having regained her senses as the pain subsided.

The worshipful gaze was somewhat echoed by the rest of the group when they arrived.

"All right; how did you produce the effect?" asked Attila.

They told him, enthusiastically. He did not seem irritable over it after all.

He nodded.

"An excellent use of lateral thinking in using runic and chanting addenda to transfiguration" he said "Now I AM going to set you an imposition; I want each of you to write it up, including carefully transcribed hieroglyphs. Then, if anyone asks, you have been set punishment. The best copy will be given to Zlatko to file in the marauding book of wickedness and I shall keep the next best for my own amusement."

"I say sir, you're a real brick" said Ilarion.

"Well Marauders MUST maraud" said Attila "Now let me check the lot of you out for any permanent damage… I see he's used wand burning as well as stinging hexes" he added as the Revellaspell showed up cursed wounds "A quick chant to cure that…." He chanted over them and they beamed at him. "Now go away and be not seen for the rest of this wet Saturday" said Attila sternly "And I am afraid I shall remove your enterprising enchantment."

"That's all right sir; we had our fun from it" said Xanthos "And it's taught me an awful lot about transfiguration too."

Attila's stern face relaxed into a smile.

"Then I should think that all the effort and pain was worth it for you" he said. "I believe you really may be one whose understanding of theory might help your practise; and in due course, when you all become full Marauders you will find certain understanding of many things becomes clearer. In the meantime I think you ought to think of an appropriate Marauder name for your group before some wag dubs you 'The Egyptian Marauders' and you find it sticks."

"Yes sir! Thank you sir!" they chorused.

oOoOo

Attila returned to find Vighard still dangling. He dropped him, none too gently to the floor.

"Get out of the enchantment zone; you do not grace the garb" he said. Vighard shifted quickly. Attila chanted over the zone to remove it, absently casting the full body bind on Vighard as he tried to move quietly away. The wand writing on the flagstones lost what little glow it had and only the pencil remained. Attila did not think there was enough power in the laboriously drawn pencilled hieroglyphs to cause any further disruption. He turned his attention to Vighard, dropping the spell that bound him.

"So you thought you would play the coward in sneaking away, even as you played the coward by picking on the smallest child in that group?" he said softly.

Vighard shuffled.

"I – I thought you had finished with me" he muttered.

"Oh? Then I should not have thought you would have needed to be stealthy then" said Attila. "I have scarcely begun with you. For an adult – you are just seventeen as I recall – to hurt a little girl so badly that had I not been the excellent medical transfigurationist and chanter that I am would have cost her weeks in the sanatorium is disgraceful. And for what? For a silly yet amusing prank that caused no lasting harm to anyone. Why, such a jape was less of a nuisance even than an apple pie bed or jelly in the gumboots or some specie of deadfall; which are all perfectly standard jokes for juniors to play. This piece of mischief was sufficiently sophisticated to return all caught in it to normal as soon as they have realised they have been caught. You are not even in an exam year to have the excuse for hysterical over-reacting; your temper is uncontrolled and you are far too old to get away with behaving like a two-year old."

"SIR!" protested Vighard.

Attila glared at him.

"A two year old unable to express himself clearly might be forgiven for having a temper-tantrum and acting violently even on a mild setback" he said "A boy of seventeen who has not more self control is a disgrace. It's about time you learned self control you have two choices Herr Sternschuppe; you can go to the head, who will probably expel you for bullying so blatantly; or you can sign a paper I shall prepare accepting a punishment of my devising to teach you self control."

"What – what would you do sir?" Vighard was nervous.

"I should implant in you a compulsion, every time you lose your temper and actually begin to act to hurt others for it, that you will take out your wand and fire a stinging hex into your own leg" said Attila. "You are aggressive and violent; and I can only hope that hurting yourself will bring you to your senses and teach you to think before you act in such aggression. If there is a reason you are so violent and you want to talk about it – your home life, for example – then I am willing to do so, and to try to help you explore the reasons that you are as you are to help you control yourself in less drastic ways."

Vighard shrugged.

"Being violent helped one survive the orphanage" he said. "It may be frowned on now, but it helped here in the old days too; and you forget how to control yourself when you find you get further by going at someone like a mad dog."

"Ah" said Attila "In that case, my boy, you are as much a victim as any that you hurt. Come to my office; and we shall talk; and it may not be necessary to place in so drastic a compulsion. Though I WILL want you to apologise to little Marlene AND explain to her and her group. It will be hard; but I suspect rewarding."

Vighard found himself drinking coffee and pouring out things he had thought he had managed to forget, humiliations and hatreds he had suffered and the way he had vowed never to be a victim again. And Attila listened; and nodded. Vighard was one of those wealthy orphans who had been in a Kinderhaus for such; where the preschool apprenticeship for Durmstrang was more likely to train bullies than scholars. And Vighard had minded more being made fun of than being hurt; which argued a sensitivity inside somewhere. And when he had talked it out, he was strangely comforted.

He did not much like the idea of apologising; but Professor Nagy had insisted that it was a sign of dignity and manliness; so he squared his shoulders and went in search of the would-be marauders.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The would-be marauders were wary when Vighard approached.

"I've come to apologise" he said abruptly "I – I lose my temper too easily. Professor Nagy said I should tell you kids why; he thinks you might help."

"We'll listen" said Marlene.

It was harder to tell these kids in some ways; and yet, having spilled out what had been locked away once, it was in other ways easier. And once he had started it tumbled forth.

He was surprised when he had finished to find that he was crying; and that the tight little knot of suspicious children had moved closer too him and were patting him on the arm. There was a little girl holding each hand.

"I don't know what Professor Nagy expects us to do" said Ilarion "But whatever we can do we will; Marauders protect you know, and we mean to be marauders; and I guess YOU need protecting as much as anyone; and it sounds pretty dire in that place, so I suppose if you normally have to go back for the hols we can take turns inviting you to our homes."

Vighard was touched.

"I – that's exceedingly decent of you" he said. "I think the thing that makes it most dire now is me; because I have the habit. There have been inspectors and some of the staff have been sacked. I think what Professor Nagy was hoping was that if you see me start to lose my temper you'll say something to me; and that I shall then be able to control it."

"We'll certainly do that" said Xanthos. "You can too train yourself to do ANYTHING if you have enough will power; and will power can be trained too."

"And it may help to know that people care about you doing it right" said Marlene.

"I never had anyone to care about me before" said Vighard.

"Well then I guess we had better adopt you as a big brother and look out for you" said Nedelya.

"And if you ask me, it would be a good idea if you learned a little chanting and learned a chant to say to yourself to calm you down the minute you feel your temper rising" said Daffodil, who was after all the group's main chanter. "We'll work on it with you."

If Vighard had been told that a jape perpetrated on him by juniors would lead to him being more at peace with himself than he had ever been he would have sneered and pooh-poohed the idea; but such was the case.

And the would-be marauders had a real marauding job to do.

oOoOo

Halloween was more or less upon them by now, and a brief return to warmer weather – or rather the ice broke up and there was rain rather than snow and sleet – and Nedelja muttered that if she went to a school that encouraged riding she might have been going to a Halloween equestrian meet.

The choicer members of the first promptly asked her what one did at an equestrian meet and proceeded to improvise, with all who were ready to volunteer. They could not of course fly around obstacles; but by running around and climbing over desks with a partner pick-a-back they contrived a very good impromptu equestrian meet with only a few contusions and one minor concussion that might happen to anyone as Xanthos, the owner of the concussion said.

"Anyway, it's not like you were damaged anywhere vital" said Nedelya "You don't keep anything in your head except your appetite."

The equestrian meet was broken up by a selection of prefects who wondered what the noise was about and horses and riders both were despatched to write out 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' because they were making enough noise to have been taking part in it.

It may be said that when the musical marauders heard of the equestrian exploits of the first they were most put out that they had not thought of it first.

"Maybe we can do a big outside junior school meeting in the summer" Bronislava suggested to Nedelya "And I'll ask my friend Grelleg what they do at Schloss Adler so we can really make some good obstacle races."

Nedelya liked that idea!

oOoOo

The Halloween party went with a swing; the prefects ran it this year and all of them wore pumpkin masks and had numbers on their backs; and one of the competitions was to match a name to a number. All the juniors declared that figuring out that number three was Zlatko was dead easy once the muffled voice inside the pumpkin mask had given a burst or invective to one of the other prefects for forgetting some piece of equipment using words that required a dictionary to translate. Most prefects would call a dreamy colleague a 'potato-headed lackwit'; only Zlatko would manage something like 'ineffably and egregiously moronic pile of scatology'.

As the reply had been a laconic 'drop dead' it had to be a friend of Zlatko's so number two was Sigismundus.

Xanthe and Xanthippe were distinguishable by the amount they were talking since Xanthippe was the most vocal of the two; Scholastica was the quietest prefect; and the rest not so easy.

There were other competitions too, including a new impromptu one inspired by the equestrian meet where they had to race pick-a-back from one end of the hall to the other, bob for an apple in a tub of water, and with a change of partners run back, still holding their apples in their mouths. They also played pin the tail on the Abraxan; the picture of the flying horse bit anyone who missed by too far but managed to get their pin into its body.

The feast was magnificent; and then there were quieter games played on paper like the competition to see how many words could be extracted from the words 'Halloween Party'; they only had five minutes and Zoltan won decisively with thirty four words. It was by no means all the words that could be extracted but for a boy of twelve in just five minutes was reckoned rather good by the prefects. The next nearest were two of the musical marauders on twenty nine; and, as Zlatko said, it was clear who took chanting seriously because they had the bigger vocabulary at their fingertips.

"Tongue tip" suggested either Xanthe or Xanthippe.

"Fingertips; they're writing stuff down" said Zlatko firmly.

They ended the evening with an unmasking of the prefects and a cauldron full of hot chocolate and chocolate knarls that the sixth had made, the bodies made of cereals mixed in with melted chocolate to make them knobbly; and their faces piped on with icing sugar. The juniors went to bed sticky and happy.

"And you lot had better carry on the tradition when you're as old as us" said Zlatko "Because we never got anything like this when we were juniors; if we were lucky we got let off fagging. The English do things better when it comes to caring for you little ones."

The first, second and third years agreed.

oOoOo

The fourth, fifth and combined sixth had indulged in a more sophisticated party with some word games and a musical evening; and the prefects considered that in volunteering to run the party for the youngest they had actually had the best fun. They thought the sophisticated amusements sounded dull!

oOoOo

By the time Halloween was over the potions dungeon was more or less back to normal; and more pristine than it had been for many a year.

This state of affairs only lasted until Pyotr Gorshok in the third managed to make his cauldron erupt directly upwards with a skin soothing cream, and the ceiling promptly came out in psoriasis.

"Ah well it was nice while it lasted" said Cacilia.

oOoOo

It was as well that the Musical Marauders were in their Wednesday extra music class when they leaped to their feet with a yell when the fear-pain-horror washed over them from Lilith; whom they knew. Volodya gasped too.

"Marauders, feed to Severus" he said quickly. "Felicks, you may go and get coffee for everyone; I shall extend the class."

The Musical Marauders approached and synchronised heartbeats, feeling the other blooded in the castle joining in. They were the youngest, the least able to avoid showing that something was wrong.

The others started apparating in; and it may be said that there were some indignant comments at their abrupt leaving of various prep rooms that the school was an anti apparating zone and that nobody had any business flouting the laws of magic like that.

As many of those apparating out of prep rooms were the prefects in charge of prep their charges felt somewhat aggrieved. There were however less staff prowling to take notice of the ensuing row since many of them had also apparated to join the youngest and to synchronise heartbeats, Clovis with one arm around his little wife, who was cuddling little Vissy, and the other about Radagas, who was very frightened; and Cacilia frantically blocking everything from her babies.

The long moments of anguish were replaced by cautious relief, a momentary outbreak of horror, Lilith in terrible pain; and then there was a need for more hard support followed by a wash of fatigue and total relief. Lilith was safe.

Cacilia, who knew Jade best, opened a link to her friend; and explained.

"Lilith and her group pulled a jape on the seniors at Hogwarts which most seniors thought funny; but one cast the vanishing spell on Lilith and sent her to the Other Place that rubbish goes. Her best friend went to find her, wrapped in protection and finding spells and the chanting group brought them both back. She was being eaten by fungi and things and they had to kill it" said Cacilia looking sick. "Jade says that knowing Lilith, once she's got over the horror she'll probably do some research on the place and she'll pass on anything relevant. That is just so….. I can't imagine ANYONE losing their temper enough to do that to a child!"

"I can" said Attila "Our own Vighard Sternschuppe might have; because he's had a really gross upbringing in a kinderhaus. I set the aspirant marauders onto sorting him out however."

"Jade says this girl has perfectly good parents and no problems past being a Ravenclaw, though I don't quite understand that; I get the impression she's stuck up and spoilt. Well, it's over; Felicks had brought coffee for you musical types so the rest of us had better retire and sort out the diabolical row that's probably going on in the meantime."

It may be said that the fourth, who considered it worth making a diabolical row for being deprived of the presence of their prefect in the person of Zlatka, as well as the four Jade Fag Marauders having left, were not happy when Professor Nagy imposed upon them the injunction that as they all liked noise so much they might continue to bang desk lids and scream until he told them to stop, since the sudden departure of a prefect on urgent business was no excuse to behave like hoodlums; so they might continue to behave like hoodlums until they were sick of it, and if any had failed to do his essay that was due in on the morrow they would then be punished for that as well. Arkadi Rasputin, Erdmute Nachtnatter and Herwald Langbessen, who were working with their fingers in their ears, were permitted to depart and finish their prep in the common room this once.

The fourth found banging desk lids and screaming to order a very different proposition to doing it as part of a riot. And as they flagged, Attila told them to keep it up and not to stop as he had not yet told them too. It was a very telling lesson.

The third, who did not know that the Musical Marauders were involved since they had their class instead of that prep session, were made by Clovis to sit in absolute silence with their hands on their heads for half an hour and were then told that if they had failed to do any of their prep they would find out what punishment would befall them on the morrow from the relevant professors.

The second were on the whole sufficiently stodgy that Cacilia only had to make a few sarcastic remarks about children so ill behaved that the calling away of their prefect should make them chatter like magpies and asked sarcastically if she should brew Circe's Potion with a variant of sheep to turn them into such, as the absence of their sheepdog made them bleat and wander off. They were reduced to near tears and abject apologies.

The first had actually behaved; largely because THEIR marauding elements knew nothing of the excitement bar that the head boy had given a shout of horror and disappeared with a loud CRAC!; and Ilarion had stood up and said that if they were such poor prunes as to want to get in trouble for not having work to hand in just because Zlatko wasn't there to light a fire under their tails, he was NOT.

And apart from resentful comments about people apparating, the senior classes, who needed no supervision anyway, just got on with it.

oOoOo

Lilith's subsequent research, which was duly reported to the blooded, involved the use of repelling spells to prevent the semi-sentient and self motile mycorrhizoids of the other place from approaching; and that one might call on the elf blood in the link to apparate directly to one who was closely bloodjoined, or even a relative. This was considered important to know in case any of the Durmstrang blooded became involved with a duel with one of the Russian supremacists – or even a German with nostalgic longing for Odessa – and was subject to the spell.

"We've heard that some people have used it as a really gross punishment of their elves" reported Clovis "Only elves, being tough, sometimes manage not only to return but to survive the measures they take to get rid of the growths. From such the stories of this come. It is not impossible that those so lost to shame as to treat their elves like that might consider it a viable option to use on the duelling piste against those they consider blood traitors."

This was scary; but at least there were ways to combat it. And the blooded of Durmstrang determined to practise repelling charms.

oOoOo

Naturally the stresses of the previous week had to be relieved; so the musical marauders made sure that the school was to be cheered up by the addition of the music of the group 'Nachthexen' and as people walked into the great hall, the sounds of 'Dark Chest of Magic' came from the feet of any who had crossed a certain line. The Musical Marauders were somewhat more sophisticated than the first years; and were able to manage an enchantment attached to a region without tying it to flagstones. The music stopped when the afflicted passed entirely into the Hall; and the really sophisticated part of the enchantment was that as each subsequent person came in their feet picked up the tune at the point it had already reached so there was no disharmony.

Unless one happened to be one of those people who considered Nachthexen unharmonious in any case; though as Sigismund said, nobody could take offence to 'Dark Chest of Magic' as it was almost mainstream and not like inflicting 'Witchmaster' on the tender ears of grown-ups.

The Musical Marauders were duly sentenced to turn their talents to useful matters and spent their leisure time for the next few days teaching Christmas carols to the suits of armour to intone around the Yule period.

Agata Bacsó did not find out for a while that they had decided to bring most of the carols up to date and give them a rock twist, with the suits of armour also playing mad tattoos of steel rhythm on their chests with their armoured gloves or even with their daggers, backed up with stamped feet. The corvus-helmed figure on the staff dais played air guitar on his greatsword.

The Musical Marauders thought they had done a great job; and as Volodya Potishev, who oversaw their work, agreed they retired smug and satisfied, leaving the rest of the castle to find out the way they had interpreted their orders when the time came for the suits of armour to be activated in their musical endeavours.

oOoOo

Yule was approaching fast; and the Yule Ball must be prepared for. And the Jade Fag Marauders must go this year as well as those of the fifth; because Agata Bacsó decreed that the fourth as well as the fifth must take part as in most of the other schools.

"Which being so, we girls had better draw straws for who goes with Kjell" said Leva Levadeva "Because we can't all go with him."

"It IS the fairest I suppose to which of us takes bloodkin" said Elfleda "I mean, none of us have started looking at him romantically yet, have we?"

"I should hope not; I plan to retain my virginity for a long time yet" said Kjell in lively horror.

"Well you'd rather one of us kissed you than some other female, wouldn't you?" said Sofie "Not that any of us are really ready for kissing I don't think."

"I should hope not!" said Kjell "All right; write your names on slips of paper and I'll pick one."

This was considered fair; and Sofie was the one chosen.

"There'll be spare boys when the Musical Marauders come next year" said Elfleda "Meantime, you take Arkadi Rasputin, Leva; and I'll take Herwald Langbessen. He's a bit of a pompous oaf but he DID fag with us and he is at least intelligent."

Herwald was happy to take a girl he considered sensible; and one who had, moreover, good contacts. Arkadi liked Leva and had been close to being picked as a marauder himself so Leva felt comfortable with him.

In the fifth, Wencelada and Grishilde were to go with Axel and Zyrillis respectively. Wencelada and Axel were more or less a couple, as were Zyrillis and Grishilde. It worked out very nicely. Zlatko planned on taking both Eulenspiegels, Zlatka agreed to go with Adelard – on the understanding that she had a boyfriend in England – as they had worked together over that silly first year; and Gisela asked Vighard on the principle that he needed encouragement. And the Eulenspiegels prodded Yorick Thorwaldsen into asking Eve Cherrytree as the girl seemed to have mellowed somewhat and Yorick was generally considered 'mostly harmless'.

Eve was rather gratified. It was nice to be asked at all; and Yorick was an older boy too. Admittedly she was not up against much competition in his own year – bar Scholastica – but even so, it was pleasant.

Aglaia Hallow and Harald Trollkettil ended up going together in terms of mutual disapproval of most of their schoolfellows and the way goblins and even elves were permitted wands and to take part in duels. And everyone else reckoned they deserved each other.

And term ran on towards end of term exams, the big blight lying over the anticipated jollities of Yule!

oOoOo

The exams were of most moment to the youngest and the oldest in the school; for the first this was a measure of whether they were keeping up; and for the fifth and combined sixth, especially the two exam classes, it was an indication of the grades they might expect to get; and was early enough to actually pull themselves up if their results were disappointing. The would-be marauders were particularly keen to do well; being a marauder was dependant on maintaining an overall 'E' average or better, Sigismund had informed them; because marauders were supposed to be leaders in every way.

And there were those subjects that it took all their time to achieve a pass grade on; for Daffodil it was Potions, at which Nedelya had to put in more work too; for Marlene and Ilarion it was Arithmancy, and THAT was a key subject too; and for Xanthos it was transfiguration. Xanthos was actually delighted to be passing most of his transfiguration assignments; the hard work of the extra classes were paying off and Professor Nagy had praised him. Poor Waldemar Zdun was NOT doing as well; and as well he was NOT a marauder because he worked by fits and starts and got so easily disheartened by the fact that he was poor in so many classes and no better than average even in his better classes. Xanthos had the sheer determination to learn all the theory and let the practical come as well as it might for at least understanding why he was doing what he did.

The solid determination of the group was paying off however; and Sigismund was asked by the Headmistress to report on that little group in case they should be degenerating into working too hard and not having a healthy dose of leisure.

"You missed their treatment of the corridor section that dressed people in Ancient Egyptian costume for one full step then, Aunt Agata" said Sigismund.

Agata blinked.

"They did that? Babes of eleven?" she demanded.

"Well it was a bit brute force; hieroglyphs AND chanting and you could see the hieroglyphs" said Sigismund critically "Though I have to say I did like the subtlety of just changing the clothes. That was moderately sophisticated. Actually I suppose using runes and chanting IS moderately advanced for babes of eleven" he conceded "We didn't really come to it until the second; though I suppose Zoltan was no older than this lot. We told them they'd never get picked to maraud if they didn't keep up an 'E' average as well as having fun because it's no point Marauders being Marauders without that we're the best of our age. It sort of defeats the object of the exercise to protect others."

"Well that is a point; so long as they have other motives than a rather suspect desire to work hard. When I was at school the swots were either those who had serious ambitions and tended to be boring; or they were those who buried themselves in work because they were miserable. To study in order to inflict more pranks on the school is probably healthier. Thank you Sigismund; you Marauders do keep your fingers well on the pulse of the school."

"It's what we're here for!" said Sigismund making his bow.

His group aimed at an 'O' average; but then they were blooded, and so those subjects that were normally ones they struggled with were a little clearer for being able to feel others who were more than able.

In the upper sixth, those who were taking only two or three ZHs were not exactly happy about Zlatko and Zlatka's blasé attitude over the five they were taking on top of their already gained Chanting qualification; and Hasso Langbessen was heard to wish rather viciously that some foreign power would provide something like inferii to bring Zlatko down a peg or two.

"It isn't going to happen" said Gisela "Zlatko being brought down a peg or two that is. And if there WAS an attack from some foreign remnant of Odessa you'd be the first to squawk for Zlatko to protect you."

This led to a protest from Hasso over the choice of the verb 'squawk' and led to his drawing wand on an unimpressed Gisela; and consequently having to go out in the snow because her disarming charm blew the window open and his wand clear through it. Which, as Gisela remarked to Desolina, served him right and might cool his grumps down a bit.

Having been bested over disputing her choice of vocabulary once, Hasso set his teeth and decided not to take issue with a word like 'grumps'.

oOoOo

The lower sixth had less pressure on them; and there was, this year at least, less grumbles about Xanthe and Xanthippe being as blasé over their results. In point of fact, both sets of twins had already been declared too clever by half for most people by various less academic elements and apart from grumblers like Hasso the upper sixth just took the Asimov twins as they came; as the lower sixth took the Eulenspiegels and merely pointed and giggled that the twins were taking more exams than anyone else; having only managed to whittle their interests down to seven ZH's.

In the fifth Wencelada and Zyrillis shone; Zyrillis was naturally brilliant and Wencelada had studied a lot of theory in the days when she had been inactive for her heart problems. Axel did well for sheer hard work as did Grishilde, though Grishilde also had her moment of glory with Geomancy at which she excelled.

The trials and tribulations of the exams were finally over and the oldest might concentrate on the ball.

oOoOo

Following Zhanargul's Arabian Nights theme of the year before was always going to be a hard act to follow; and Zlatko severally and completely cursed the English for introducing the idea of themed decoration when in the old days a few coloured balls and plenty of greenery sufficed.

"And we didn't have to do any thinking about politics either because that was done for us too" reminded his twin.

When she had removed or corrected the cactus spines, migrating nasal bats and bratwürst fingers Zlatko told her that the most irritating thing in the world was a sister who was right.

He then gave a sudden yell and turned a somersault.

"Either you've gone insane – insaner I should say – or you just had an idea" said Zlatka, rescuing her work from his gyrations.

"I had a beautiful idea" said Zlatko "And it's all thanks to those kids in the first. I shall buy them some chocolate frogs. We'll have an Egyptian theme. I know I shan't get anyone to dress appropriately – at least, not the boys and nor the girls if we had the authentic bare tits; but the décor may as well be all wall painting and lots of heavy carved gilded furniture and we shall have porticoes carved like those papyrus stems like the ones at Karnak and a desert scene outside. It'll be splendid."

"Don't even THINK of talking the girls into turning up authentically garbed; the Kaiserin will have a fit" said Zlatka, giving Agata Bacsó the nickname by which many of the school secretly referred to her.

"I shan't; and because it's sort of minimalist apart from the few sumptuous bits and the walls it won't matter anyway" said Zlatko. "Though I might see about being in priestly garb; which is a much pleated long robe and maybe a leopard skin. The girls could be in Lawrence Alma-Tadema sort of Egyptian stuff. Cleopatra-esq" he added, then grinned wickedly "And I shall write seditious things in hieroglyphs and see who actually reads them."

"Bad one!" scolded Zlatka. "TRY to be seditious in at least a moderately sophisticated way and leave out the childish things like 'Hasso is a git'."

"WHAT do you take me for?" said Zlatko injured. "I was thinking along the lines of 'Dolokhov fucks goats' or something about some of the less convivial council members."

Zlatka sighed.

He was doing it to take the rise; and the only way to stop him was to ignore it. He would then end up with a witty and scurrilous indictment of Dolokhov and his other chosen victims without descending into scatology. Or at least only of the implied kind. (Translate some Convulvemort into hieroglyphs? It's been done before)

Zlatko, once he knew what he was doing, was in his element; and the great hall was transformed into a Pharonic audience hall with all the excesses to have delighted the hearts of Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Twentieth Century Fox Studios; let alone Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. He whistled Christmas carols as he happily inscribed scurrilous hieroglyphic texts on the walls ranging from such minor comments as 'I have been in competitions for many years and I have never seen the like of the cheating by Odessa' to 'A voice offering of abuse, vituperation and malediction to Dolokhov and any goats which he has in his household as consorts' and 'TiefKessel the swallower of all that is good, beautiful and perfect, whose spirit comes forth from the toilet filled with worms'. This last was a member of the Ministry who was obstructive over change.

Egyptian tended to be rather formulaic and formal in its construction and there were a limit to the number of ways one might be rude without descending into the more scatological terms used in the erotic papyrus of Turin.

He did manage a pointed message to Hasso; 'Hasso your silence is better than your blethering' the only down side being that Hasso could not read it so he added 'Thus one mocks the afflicted' with heavy irony.

He also added 'Life, health, prosperity to those of the voice of the heart' as a greeting to the Bloodjoined.

He had great fun making the figures on the walls become gentle caricatures of all the staff; with Agata Bacsó depicted taller than the rest as the Goddess Isis. Clovis was Set; the others kings and queens, depicted as seemed appropriate. Orlando Carcano was driving graphorns before him in the manner of tomb paintings depicting the offering of oxen, Kunigunde Kluba tending lotus flowers, Cacilia brewing beer, Agallisse Schreiber as a scribe, Volodya Potishev with a harp and Lazlo Ijas with a scroll. Attila, Panayot Panov and Birgit Junger were depicted in priestly robes to suit their profession as transfigurationist, Charmer and Enchantress; Nannerl Schwefel rode in a boat and Frida Rundquist rode not on a broom but on one of the gorgeous long handled feather fans beloved of illustrators and Hollywood. He depicted the prefects as small, and thus insignificant figures as the servants of the gods and kings, each with a cartouche and epithet to go with it. 'Zlatko the Arrogant; Zlatka the smug; Gisela the Hard Working; Sigismundus the Implacable' and so on. Zlatka came to see how it was going and laughed.

"There are probably only about four people in the school who can read all of these and we're two of them" she said.

"Well I know what they mean to it makes me feel happy" said Zlatko. "Fraulein Schreiber will enjoy them. And so will Cacilia and Attila. There must be at least half a dozen people who can read them actually."

Zlatka laughed.

"Well, huge numbers then!" she teased

It did not matter if there was only a handful of people who appreciated her brother's careful accuracy – which surpassed her own abilities as she was not herself studying to ZH, though she knew more than most who had taken Ancient Runes to ZP. And the older Marauders had been alerted to plant small hieroglyph clues and snippets in the muggle museum in Berlin to deal with French supremacists – just what they needed, French idiots as well as Russian ones, as Zlatko had said – so brushing up was a good thing to do in any case!

oOoOo

Before the ball itself the final day was enlivened with the singing of Christmas carols by the suits of armour; which was when the full impact of rock music carolling burst upon the school. Agata blinked several times, reflected that she had never specified that the Musical Marauders were to stick to any specific style and tried not to dwell on the manic air guitar of the suit of armour behind her with his six-foot blade. It was certainly different.

oOoOo

It may be said that when the ball opened the effect was all that could be hoped for; and there were gasps of appreciation from the guests. It may also be said that Zlatko in the white gown of a priest-king with jewellery and a headdress looked quite magnificent; and though Zyrillis raised an eyebrow at the Eulenspiegels and asked,

"Aren't the pair of you rather BLONDE to be Cleopatra?" they looked very good in the costume, comments on their colouring despite.

It was thought by many that the view of a baking hot desert with an implacable sun and sky the colour of polished pewter was a most excellent idea and compensation for the fact that it was raining a cruel, cold rain just cold enough to freeze on the ground without becoming sleet or snow; and the young people abandoned themselves to a good time, with the music provided by 'Kunstewerke' who were capable of being tuneful enough to dance to, even if some of their works were a little impenetrable to anyone who actually might want to hum along. And then it was the holiday; and a jolly time to be expected by those who were going home, and a jollier time than might be expected for Vighard, who was to be going home for a week with Ilarion who had written home to ask permission; and then on to spend the rest of the holidays with Attila Nagy and his family.

It was an unexpected kindness that Vighard was never to forget; and was the making of an angry boy into a man whose anger could learn to be directed; and who would do anything for Attila or any of the Marauders.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Zoltan quite enjoyed having Vighard Sternschappe to stay in the holidays, which had been more than he had expected. Vighard had found the idea of a jolly family life quite as bewildering as had Zoltan at first, and the younger boy's sympathy went out to Vighard as Zoltan realised that even the relative travesty of love he had received from his mother was still much more than Vighard remembered having from anyone. And in return the hardened boy was ready to fall over himself to do anything for a family that just accepted him. Cacilia applied to have the boy made her ward until his seventeenth birthday; whilst the German authorities might raise an eyebrow over giving wardship of a near pure-blood German boy to a Hungarian like Attila, since attitudes were not eroded over night, there was no difficulty over the wardship going to someone like Cacilia Von Freyer.

They travelled back to school together and Zoltan confided in the older boy how he had found it hard to learn to be boisterous for Christmas having been trained into quiet and indeed victim-like ways by his mother.

"I'd rather have no parents at all than be betrayed like that" said Vighard.

Zoltan nodded.

"When I found out that I was nothing but a pawn I decided that I had no mother" he said. "Poking Mama Cacilia in Papa's direction however was very satisfactory. And the babies are lovely!" he added.

"What, you played cupid?" Vighard half scoffed.

Zoltan grinned ruefully.

"Well not entirely – because they were sorting themselves out fairly well anyway. But they needed to have it made clear that Sigismund and I approved."

Vighard nodded. He knew that Sigismund was Attila Nagy's son but was illegitimate and had been adopted; he wished he might have been adopted too by such a family, as one of the families he had met was Sigismund's adoptive family, nervous people for the German boy to know in being cousins of Madam Bacsó, but like the sort of family he had read about and hardly believed really existed, in being close and loving.

He had blurted out to little Klarisza Tóth that he would be happy for her to fag for him when she started next year, and he would look out for her as her brother was a Marauder and the Marauders were good people; and Sigismund's adoptive sister had sized him up, grinned and agreed.

And Vighard had discovered that his grades had been going up too for being less truculent at the end of the last term, even if his exam had not been affected, and Professors Von Freyer and Nagy had given him some coaching, if it might be called that, over the holidays. Indeed it was little more than informal chat, but Vighard felt that he understood so many more things. He was a better than average student already but the extra explanations had him really keen to get to grips with the Dark Arts in the ECC, no longer afraid to concentrate on them in case he became a loser for trying to use them as a short cut to be one up. No fool, Vighard had taken that part of Jade Snape's explanation of use of the Dark Arts to heart and so had deliberately done little work beyond what was needed to pass his ZP. He had no desire to be a loser, and he had known his temper might lead him deeper than he intended! With aid to control his temper with a chant to focus, what Professor Von Nagy called 'centering' he felt able to learn for interest's sake without being afraid of being controlled by the Dark Arts. His understanding of Potions and Transfigurations in relation to Arithmancy also improved just in evening chat, and he swore to himself that he would be an 'O' student in both subjects, and too in Arithmancy as both professors rated it highly. He returned to school full of determination that he would be better than his current 'E' average over the four ZH's he was taking, Potions, Transfigurations, Arithmancy and Enchanting.

oOoOo

Madam Bacsó had an announcement to make at the first feast.

"We have to be aware that a couple of pupils have been found to have an infestation of chizpurfles on returning from the holidays; Señor Carcano and the school nurse will be coming around every dormitory to check your kit for infestations this evening, and Señor Carcano has already looked over those owls that belong to pupils and sequestered for treatment the one so affected. You will have your wands ready for testing and any other magical artefacts you have brought to school with you. As nobody took their broom home, those at least may be considered not to be suspect. Señor Carcano will also look over the boys and the nurse will look over the girls for infestations."

Naturally the Musical Marauders exchanged looks of unholy glee at this announcement and hardly needed to confer to start scratching as soon as they left the feast.

Such is the power of suggestion that the overwhelming feeling of itching spread without need for any greater jinx than the suggestibility of the human mind.

The Musical Marauders were well cuffed by the Twin Marauders. They considered it worth it; they had caught Aglaia Hallow.

Vighard Sternschappe caught on quite quickly; and this was one rag at which he was not about to be made foolish. He knew full well that neither of Professor Nagy's children had chizpurfles, and nor had their friend Bronislava, though he had been chary about greeting her goblin friends at Schloss Von Freyer at first, when they came visiting, though he had fallen in with the custom of his hosts, and had been praised for it by Attila. After all, the Prince Peak goblins had proved themselves more than equal to behaving like civilised folk; which was more than the Russians and Aglaia Hallow managed.

He could not resist laughing at Aglaia and saying,

"Well at least if chizpurfles are biting you, Hallow, they are pure blood chizpurfles for having eaten your blood."

Aglaia's reply was to whip out her wand.

Sigismund and Zoltan exchanged a look, a grin, and pulled out a summoning that was the more complex for seeming to issue from someone else's wand, being a stream of grossly magnified chizpurfles, large enough to be recognisable from the drawings in text books of the microscopic creatures. Aglaia took one look at the creatures apparently issuing from her wand, screamed, and threw it from herself. She was not usually given to hysterics but they were truly ugly creatures.

"Looks like the pure blood makes them really grow, Hallow!" said Xantippe.

"Would the cleverer summoners just put a sock in it already" said Xanthe.

Sigismund and Zoltan stopped their surreptitious wand work. That tone of voice was to be obeyed.

It may be said that it took the prefects a good half an hour to stop people scratching and despatch them to stand by their beds with wands and other enchanted belongings to be checked over. And Zlatko told the Musical Marauders that had he not been impressed by their application of the muggle magic of psychology he might have placed an itching jinx on them.

They beamed at him.

oOoOo

The Jade Fag Marauders invited themselves to tea with Attila and Cacilia when the chizpurfle furore had died down – it took several days for some of those with phantom itches to be convinced that they were clear of infection – on a twofold quest.

The main part of the quest involved asking advice as Marauders.

"We were doing Library work" said Kjell. "Because of Elfleda having had a holiday in England."

"My sister took me" said Elfleda "And we went to a place called 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes."

Cacilia groaned. She had heard of it from Jade.

"So we can expect a load of goblin made toys to infest life can we?" she said. "I know something of this er, emporium."

"Well I did get a few" said Elfleda honestly "Because as we don't do metalwork here, I thought we could study them a bit. But you see they also do anti-thief sweeties to poison Russians with if we have any more competitions with them, and other stuff. Like Canary Custards. They are a kind of very English biscuit that turn you into a canary when you eat them, and then you moult and as the feathers fall off you go back to normal" she explained as Cacilia looked puzzled. "We thought it would be cool to do something similar but more suitable to Durmstrang, and turn people into crows; Krau Küchen seemed like a good name."

"I am NOT going to be giving advice on how to pull off that piece of transfigurational potion making" said Cacilia.

"Oh no, we weren't asking you about that!" said Leva "That would be dishonourable! We were going to get the Owlglasses to test it when we'd done."

"Only when you do library work you find unexpected things," said Sofie, "which sometimes ought to go to grownups."

"And there was a book we found," said Kjell, "or rather that I found; and it has in it a potion of total forgetfulness that makes someone forget who they are and to be awfully suggestible too. And we thought it ought to be a book that gets er, lost from the library to go under fidelius charm in the Marauding room."

"Gott in Himmel!" said Cacilia "Indeed, yes! Such a book in the wrong hands is most worrying. You did quite right; put it in the marauding room and Zlatko can put it under fidelius charm at his leisure. The capacity for misuse of that is quite terrible; I can indeed think of only two virtuous uses for it, one to use instead of execution of a wicked person and the other for someone who has suffered so terribly that they are ready to choose total forgetfulness."

"There's no guarantee if the person was unpleasant that it would change the personality though" said Kjell, frowning in thought. "I suppose it might, but don't amnesiacs still behave in the way they would if they knew who they were?"

"True enough in most cases" said Attila "Though that may be because their memory is locked away not destroyed. If someone forgot being taught to be a racist for example, are they still likely to be?"

"It says that basic knowledge of how to function in the world is intact" said Kjell, fumbling inkily with the book to the place it was marked. "That might include training in brown-nosing to Vons and spitting on goblins."

"Hmm," said Attila, "indeed it might. Cacilia and I will look into it over the Easter holiday if we don't have too much to do with the exam students. Well done. Don't include any of your Krau Küchen on the staff trays of cakes or we shall be forced to act upon our knowledge. You said your reason for taking tea with us was twofold – what else did you horrors want?"

"I wanted to practise my tea leaf reading for Fraulein Pippin" said Sofie. "And actually what I'm seeing in your leaves is conflict and strife, so I do hope you two aren't going to have a lovers' tiff because if you do the Marauders will have to sort you both out."

"Impudent brat" said Attila.

"It's more likely that as adult Marauders we're going to be mixing it with Russian ODESSA or with the fey" said Cacilia calmly. "What do your fellows' cups say?"

"Oh they've been saying conflict every day and I guess that's because Marauders irritate people who need irritating" said Sofie "At least when they say anything apart from a mess on the bottom because it isn't working. I'm not terribly good, but you do have a lovely clear picture of a knife; I wasn't totally sure with some of the others, and it is a sign of strife. And there might or might not have been a cat in the last one I did with the others which is treachery. I wrote it all up for Fraulein Pippin."

"Well you had better write this up as well" said Cacilia. "It's not as though we don't expect Dolokhov to want to do something to pay us back for permitting Prince Peak goblins and elves to make worse fools of his pupils than they managed to make of themselves. Keep a close eye on your omens, Sofie-Blümchen; I'll have a word with Salvia Pippin. She's never Marauded but growing up in Hogwarts she knows better than to ignore warnings from Marauders."

"Thank you!" Sofie beamed. She was never going to make the average to make an insurance diviner but she was finding some modest success using tea leaves for her personal satisfaction.

oOoOo

Elfleda had indeed brought back a selection of such favourites as swooping cursers and clockwork earthquakes; also more useful kit like the travelling potioneer's kit with the expanding cauldron and the mutable knife that was also scales, as she had much admired the one Zoltan had been given the previous Christmas. She had also bought this year's must-have toy, the bouncing beetles. Concealed until activated as buttons, based on English Assimilative Correlation, as Elfleda explained, they needed to be tapped in a special code then a number of taps equalling the number of minutes delay. When the time had elapsed, they would suddenly become beetles and spring into the air, buzzing around. She had bought two big bags of them.

The Musical Marauders voted these likely to be good for a diversion if they ever needed one and proceeded to play with a couple before suggesting that the rest of the quiescent buttons should lie low.

oOoOo

Meanwhile Agata Bacsó had a task for one of the would-be Marauders.

She called Daffodil to her study two days into term; and it may be said that the girl was quite puzzled since her consciences had not yet had time to be smirched with the stains of incipient mischief, a sad thing to have to admit when the term was already quite forty eight hours old.

The headmistress smiled at her; she had at her side a small, neat little person with smooth dark hair.

"Daffodil, this is Simone Fabrier" she said. "She is joining us a little late; her family have been presenting the proofs of her blood status as she is to move from a small school, now that Durmstrang offers Divination. Simone is from Belgium; that has a language in common with you, does it not, my dear?"

"Not if she's a French speaking Belgian Ma'am" said Daffodil "But I can get by in French well enough to bring her on."

"Mais oui, French she is my language" said Simone, shyly. "It is most kind of you to bring me on. The small school has not so many subjects."

"Then I shall leave you to show Simone about and get acquainted with her" said Madam Bacsó.

Daffodil dropped her obligatory curtsey and took Simone's arm.

"Why did you not go to Beauxbatons, Simone?" she asked curiously as they left the study.

"My papa does not think it so good an education" said Simone "And to go across the sea to England I would not; and papa said that as Durmstrang taught divination from this year – he is an insurance diviner and I have had some signs I might be good at it also – I should come here. But then there was a question about my blood status and the Governors would not accept my application until it was cleared up, so I have attended a small school and mama and papa have taught me also and I – I do so wish I were at ho-o-ome!" she sobbed suddenly.

"Ooer" said Daffodil "I say, Simone, I wouldn't cry like that where anyone might see; they might think you were an awful baby. And whilst most people won't bully you any more, you might get most awfully ragged."

Simone promptly howled.

"Oh but I am all alone!" she cried.

"Nonsense" said Daffodil. "How can you be alone in a big school like Durmstrang? Why there are quite three hundred pupils here, heaps of staff and around two hundred elves and a goblin handyman. Hardly alone!"

"But I don't know anyone!" wailed Simone.

"Well that will change as you make friends" said Daffodil.

"Will you be my friend?" demanded Simone.

"Yes of course" said Daffodil, happy to be friendly to anyone, even one so maudlin as this; poor kid, the Dutch girl reflected, it would be much harder to start when everyone else knew each other, and Marauders were supposed to protect the weak.

"Cross your heart and promise not to have any other best friends?" demanded Simone.

Daffodil stopped dead.

"Certainly not!" she said crisply. "I'm happy to befriend you but if you think I'd be such a – a poor prune as to betray my other friends by making such a silly and wicked vow you can think again! That would be disloyal – and you wouldn't want to be friends with anyone who was disloyal, do you?"

"But I want you to be my special friend!" said Simone, sulkily.

"I'm afraid it isn't going to happen" said Daffodil, crisply. "And if you act like that, you goat, I won't want to be friends at all! I have my group and we'll all take care of you but don't expect any of us to be disloyal to each other!"

"How many friends do you have?" asked Simone, jealously.

"In our year? Four" said Daffodil. "Nedelya, Marlene, Ilarion and Xanthos."

"But two of those are boy's names!" said Simone.

"Yes, what of it?" Daffodil gave her a look. What bee had this Belgian child in her bonnet?

"Boys are horrid and rough; it isn't nice to play with boys" said Simone.

"Nonsense" said Daffodil. "The boys here are no rougher than the girls."

"Well anyway, there are two boys and two girls; they could pair up and you could pair with me as my best friend" said Simone. "Why should that not work?"

"Because, my good ass" said Daffodil "We are Marauders; and I somehow doubt that you'd be up for deliberately courting danger and trouble as well as being top of the class which is what Marauders do. We protect and serve; and that means pranks and japes."

"I would help you out if you were my friend!" said Simone fiercely "But it does not sound nice, my Daffodil; these boys have talked you into it, and it would be better to split from them."

"One more suggestion that I be disloyal and I'm going to walk away and leave you to find your own way about" threatened Daffodil. "I CHOOSE to Maraud; and it's nothing to do with being persuaded. Marauders stand for all that's fair – goblin and elf rights and things and justice and fighting bullies. And by the way, if you don't like the idea of goblin and elf rights you probably wouldn't want to be my friend anyway" she added.

"Oh please, Daffodil, I know nothing about goblins or elves; but I am ready to learn!" cried Simone.

This won her a smile.

"Good kid!" said Daffodil.

Simone's tears cleared and she beamed. She had done something right! This confident, pretty girl had attracted Simone so much that she was determined to be her friend.

"I wish to learn all that you can tell me" she repeated.

Daffodil was well away.

By the time Simone was in the junior common room she knew that elf slavery was part of a curse of scary dark creatures and that goblins appeared sometimes stupid and greedy as a result of grinding poverty and that there were Marauders of all ages who were pledged to do something about that and that if they had had their way she wouldn't have had to wait to have her blood status proved because it would not have mattered and did not ought to matter. Her head was in such a whirl she forgot to be too shy when introduced to the Marauders in the year and such other girls as Daffodil recognised as worth talking to, and she failed to see the other Marauders looking on her with some dismay. Ilarion drew Daffodil aside as others greeted the new girl.

"I say, you weren't planning on having her Maraud were you?" he asked "She – well she doesn't seem quite the right type."

"Oh she isn't, poor little idiot" said Daffodil "Only it's pretty beastly to be so alone and to come late so I said I'd be her friend. Zoltan takes an interest in those second year oiks that were his dorm mates you know; Feliks and the others and Renate's brother. I thought that would be all right; besides the Kaiserin asked me to show her about and take care of her so what else am I to do? I feel sorry for her."

"Oh well, if the Kaiserin asked it of you, that's fair enough" said Ilarion "And Marauders do defend. She's looking most awfully weepy though; I should think she'll take a good bit of defending."

Daffodil shrugged fatalistically.

"Well, if we can get her settled, she's supposed to be half decent at Divination; and as none of us can divine our ways out of a paper bag it might be handy to have the skill at the disposal of Marauders too. She's mostly harmless" she added.

Simone would doubtless have cried tears of real sorrow at so lukewarm an assessment from one for whom she had conceived a quite violent admiration for her confident manner and kindness; but Daffodil was too soft hearted to show that she thought friendship with the Belgian girl to be more a chore than a boon; to be born cheerfully because it was her duty as a Marauder.

It did look as though Simone planned to hang about Daffodil's neck given half a chance and Daffodil might have half wished that there was not a spare bed in the dormitory she shared with Nedelya, Marlene, Renate Dunkelswann and Ulla-Brit Skaardal. Those determined to take advantage of the ECC shared a dormitory and others of the year happier to be away from the mad ones who rose so early.

Daffodil explained the ECC punctiliously to Simone, who gave a little squeak of horror at the idea of rising so early.

"But why bother, my Daffodil, if it is not compulsory?" she asked in incomprehension.

"Because I take seriously the camaraderie, and the improvement to my physical health and the things I learn there that are not in the text books – or at least not for our age group" said Daffodil.

Simone was uncomprehending.

"But why do you want to learn what is not in the text book, my Daffodil?" she demanded "Surely what we are taught is enough?"

Daffodil sighed.

"Not for Marauders who must aspire higher" she said "And anyway, please don't call me 'my' Daffodil as though I belonged to you; I don't. It's most silly of you and really rather soppy."

Simone was inclined to be tearful again over this; but Daffodil was adamant. Soppy was something she disliked intensely. 'Well', she thought, 'I will awaken Simone to go for the run, and if she chooses to come, she will start to become a healthier girl with a healthier attitude. And if not, well it's her loss'.

It may be said that when Simone understood that she had been awakened to see if she wanted to run and not because it was compulsory to rise, she dissolved into tears that Daffodil should be so unkind to her as to waken her from a beautiful dream in which she was still at home.

The other girls left her to her lachrymose regrets.

"You know," said Renate, "I cried the first few nights but I made jolly sure nobody heard me; I didn't want to be thought a cry-baby. And I did work hard to fit in by joining the ECC."

"You did" said Daffodil "But give the girl a few breaks; she seems so very young for her age. And if she's good at Divination, she might be inclined to have scary dreams that upset her."

"You are full of charity, Daffodil" said Ulla-Brit.

"Too good to live" grinned Nedelya.

"And that one is going to be a nuisance I'm afraid, Daffi" said Marlene.

"I will befriend her" said Renate "I too know how it is to be home-sick; and I know you Marauders need to go and do your Marauder things and then she will have someone else to talk to."

"You're a good sort, Renate" said Daffodil, in relief.

oOoOo

Simone proved poor at Charms, Potions and Arithmancy without any real talent at Transfiguration, though she did better at Enchantment. She was average in Ancient Runes, above average at understanding the nature of the Dark Arts, shone somewhat in Geomancy, to Nannerl Schwefel's pleasure, developed a talent for Chanting and was the year's star pupil at Divination and, it may be said, in Fraulein Pippin's voluntary Astronomy class. She had studied Astronomy at the small school she had attended and so was permitted to continue it; and as Salvia Pippin said, that might help her Geomancy too even if her Arithmancy was too dire to take it to higher levels.

Katarina Nachtigall spoke seriously to Simone, when she discovered the girl was interested in and good at Geomancy, offering her remedial classes to permit her to take Geomancy further in learning more Arithmancy; but Simone merely cried and wailed that Arithmancy was too hard, but too HARD to want to do even more of it. Katarina sighed. She could sympathise with homesickness – she more than most when the very home and family she had grown up with had been essentially snatched from her when they were all turned into werewolves in her first year in Durmstrang – but failing to knuckle down to improve understanding to help with the things that one was good at struck her as what Jade would have called extreme poor prunery.

She said nothing of this however and remarked pleasantly that if Simone ever changed her mind, she would find her Arithmancy professor willing to help her overcome any blind spots and to bring her up to speed if she needed it.

Simone's tendency to burst into tears if she could not do something tended to exasperate staff and pupils alike; the pupils on the whole treated her with amused contempt, and Valda Schutzstab, barely escaped from the opprobrium of her previous term's exploits, was well jinxed by Daffodil, who felt responsible for Simone, for provoking the Belgian girl into a fit of hysterics in Potions in order to waste time deliberately.

Cacilia had sent for an elf to take Simone to the school hospital and had carried on teaching ruthlessly; she had realised what Valda was up to, and had no intention of having her class disrupted. Simone would learn nothing in a state of hysteria anyway and might as well lie down and rest with a dose of glumbumble juice.

And as Simone had both spurned Renate's overtures of friendship in her infatuation for Daffodil and had annoyed the latter by crying that Daffodil should desert her in the morning for 'zat stupid club' she was going out of her way to make herself somewhat unpopular with her dormitory mates too. Daffodil, who was a forthright maiden, had pointed out that Simone could scarcely complain about being abandoned when she had been invited to come and had refused; and had rather lost her temper when Simone suggested that Daffodil might have stayed in bed too. Daffodil was blunt that she might give up something she enjoyed to nurse someone who was sick, or to safeguard someone who was at risk but to miss out on fun simply to listen to the snores of a lazy little moo who had a rum idea of what constituted friendship anyway was more than she was prepared to do.

The lazy little moo, who really did not have any idea of what constituted a healthy friendship, howled afresh and Daffodil left her to it. Doing right by someone was one thing, but as she said to Nedelya and Marlene, she didn't yet know the drying charm to avoid being drowned in all that salt water.

They retired to the library to look it up.

oOoOo

The Marauders were not impressed when Simone, in order to win Daffodil's admiration and persuade her to stay in bed in the mornings, faked a vision in Divination class. The little girl rolled her eyes wildly and horridly in what she fondly hoped was a dramatic way and croaked,

"Beware the evil miasmas of the early morning! Beware of losing the true love of a friend!"

Daffodil looked at her in scorn.

"Can't you even pull something convincing if you must play-act?" she said.

Some of the girls had gasped in convinced shock at a seer; Fraulein Pippin was equal to the imposture.

"Simone, my child, you are showing perfectly adequate results so far in your divination work, there is no need whatsoever to act the idiot by pretending visions. Believe me, of my own family, the most reliable diviners are those who use a combination of native talent with one form of guided prophecy or other and hard work to interpret the same. The few true-seers manage a few obscure visions that are damaging to their health and not much use to anyone else" she said. Nipping in the bud the idea that having visions was cool was something to be tackled right away. "Being a seer is an affliction, not a blessing. Now," she added quietly as she knelt beside Simone's desk, "what has upset you so badly that you must feel it necessary to undertake so silly an thing as pretending to have a vision?"

Simone sobbed and blurted out that Daffodil deserted her in the mornings for a stupid club.

"You mean the ECC?" said Salvia "Excellent institution. You should join it; it will improve your health no end, and your ability to sustain long periods gazing at the heavens too. Besides, Daffodil has her other friends that have been friends of hers since they began school together; a true friend would not expect another to desert older friends, would they? That's a rather selfish attitude, my dear, and if you hope to be friends with Daffodil, one you must mend."

"Oh but Fraulein Pippin, it is not right that they should make her be in this dangerous gang! She can believe in elf and goblin rights without it!" sobbed Simone.

"Jealousy because you have not been asked to Maraud with them is not going to endear you to any Marauder" said Salvia, who might not have had the sight, but she could see further through a silly child than most. "Buckling down to work hard, supporting their ideals, offering to keep cave for them and learning more about some of the things they do in the ECC would impress them far more. Alas, I somehow don't think you are listening" she added.

"I am, Fraulein!" cried Simone.

"With your ears perhaps; but somehow I fancy not with your heart" said Salvia sadly.

This one was not a bad child; but Salvia foresaw with the foresight more attributable to a better than average share of common sense than to any divination that potentially she might cause trouble just through being excitable and hysterical.

She had the incipient Marauders in her study to chat about the girl; and heard the whole.

"She's such a wet idiot" said Daffodil "And I have TRIED to be friendly but she has so much to cry about you can never guess what might set her off."

Salvia sighed.

"Do your best to be friendly enough to her to keep her satisfied, my dear, without compromising previous friendships or your right to choose to belong to what clubs you wish" she said. "I ask you this because I think there is trouble brewing; and it would be better not being complicated by having the silly child do something drastic like run away to er, make you sorry or whatever. Because keeping her safe and the staff not distracted by her antics might just be the most important Marauder task you could undertake."

"Yes, Fraulein Pippin!" they chorused.

Salvia Pippin nodded.

"There's good children" she said.

She had some disturbing things to lay before the Headmistress.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Salvia Pippin took her self and her findings to see Agata Bacsó.

She heaved out several exercise books to lay on the headmistresses table and sighed as she did so. Where to begin was the problem.

"Sit down and I'll make coffee, Salvia" said Madam Bacsó. "You look worried."

"I am, Agata" said Salvia. It was becoming easier to call the headmistress by her first name; at first it had been a bit surreal, since through Salvia's schooldays, Durmstrang and its austere headmistress had been the baddies. "Because you see I'm NOT talented myself at any kind of sight" she added.

"However you know enough to recognise those who are; and may I say it is a relief to have someone of your calm good sense to lead a rather unreliable study and sort out the er, chaff from the wheat as one might say" said Agata. "Has one of your students had a reading or sight that you feel you should bring to my attention?"

"If it was only one, Agata, I might have been less likely to do anything but mention it to the Asimov twins" said Salvia. "I have been accustomed to putting trust into Marauders to sort things out. However this is a slow but steady accumulation of little, but positive clues from all the diviners in the school; and before involving Zlatka to use her skill with divining rods I felt I should run through it. I brought all the evidence."

"My dear Salvia, if you feel that there is evidence, I don't need to have you present it to me unless you think it would add to my understanding" said Agata "I'm happy to take your word. Adelard has proved the efficacy of use of his form of reading. You are the expert."

Salvia heaved a sigh of relief.

"Thank you Agata" she said. "It's all so very tenuous – on its own. Any one child's readings could be passed off with a laugh – on its own. Together, with several different forms of reading, tea leaves, cards, matchsticks, sikidy and a half seen vision in a crystal too tenuous for Adelard to be certain about, there is good reason to suppose that the school stands in considerable danger. To summarise a number of clues, danger comes in the form of treachery and betrayal, and there is the chance of death. I want permission to have the best chanters support Zlatka and Adelard with a ritual circle to increase their connection with the future if that is possible – and I don't know if it is, but chanting can do some amazing things – and see if they can get anything more positive. I'd like to ask Zyrillis Genauschüren but he's only in the fifth."

"I will ask him" said Agata. "He's not a Marauder but he's one of the bloodjoined. I fancy he would permit Zlatko to chant him into a trance; which I can't see Adelard willingly doing, though he'd probably volunteer he might hold back at an instinctive level. Zyrillis will place absolute trust into Zlatko."

Salvia gasped.

"Agata, you're going further than I would have dared ask had I even known enough to suggest it!" she said.

Agata shrugged.

"I might be wrong but I fancy that chanting has layers and complexities yet untouched by anyone except maybe the Snapes; and that in the hands of the experts like Zlatko that it can manage to enhance any effect. Divination, as I understand your lectures, is the art of being able to remember what has not yet happened because time is not a finite commodity. I think that paraphrases it?"

"Very well indeed,, Agata" said Salvia. "And I don't say that you're wrong, either. Then if I may have the ECC dungeon after school with those pupils I would be very content."

oOoOo

Zlatko listened as Fraulein Pippin outlined what was required. Adelard was looking shocked, Zlatka and Zyrillis nodding.

"With your permission, Fraulein Pippin, Zlatka should study the evidence and use rods and the scrolling globe to determine the direction of the threat" said the Head Boy. "I have my own ideas but I fancy that if I'm correct, the use of a runic circle as well as the chanting might further enhance the effect."

"Your nose is positively twitching in anticipation, twin" said Zlatka. "I want Xanthippe on the rods with me; her place sense is impeccable even if she couldn't divine much further than Abendessen happens in the evening. I've sent for her."

"Good thinking" said Zlatko.

Calling for one Eulenspiegel twin got both, and matters were soon explained. Zlatka took up the divining rods and ran them over the untidy writing of those juniors whose work was among the evidence. Adelard's neat notes were more convincing but less immediate and so there was less to grasp. Zlatka sighed.

"Adelard, do you have your messy notes, that you first jotted down?" she asked.

Adelard looked surprised.

"Yes Zlatka; I keep them all in case anything happens to my work and I need to recreate it" he said.

"Good; hop and get it. Copying things out makes life easier for Fraulein Pippin and the exam board and destroys all the ritual connection" said Zlatka "And while you're at it, bring the tarot cards you used. There may be a residual connection in them, too."

Adelard clicked his heels and ran off as hurriedly as the dignity of a sixth former permitted him. He had every respect for the abilities of the Asimov twins and was not about to question the claims they made, as they had learned Higher English Magic that he had been too much of an unbeliever to learn when he had the chance. He returned shortly with his notes and cards.

Zlatka sighed with relief.

"Positive proof" she said. "I was getting the pull with the others but I can really feel this… good man Adelard. Xantippe, place your hands on mine."

Xantippe did as she was told; and the scrolling globe started turning, and the spot of light, a little dim but visible, might be seen to settle in the depths of Russia.

Zlatko nodded.

"Thought so" he said. "And that gives me an advantage in the runes. Old Slavonic was developed in the First Bulgarian Empire, when Cyrillic was first separated from uncial Greek. It's also called 'Ustav' and includes letters from the Glagolitic alphabet to include those sounds Greek doesn't have… all right, I thought some of you might be interested" he added as Xantippe poked him.

"Only if it is going to help us" said Zlatka "And as you're the one about to inscribe the runes I can't see that us knowing the bastard language Emperor Boris gave birth to – I do read too – matters a whole lot."

"Probably not" said Zlatko. "Give me a moment. This is something I've never considered doing before. Are you up for it Zyrillis?"

"Are you kidding? Of course I am!" said Zyrillis. "The chance to open my mind further?"

"It's risky" said Zlatko "Open to the ways and paths like that means open to other things."

"And I wouldn't permit it were he not of the blooded" said Agata Bacsó.

Zlatko nodded.

"And I wouldn't attempt it either" he said. "I could wish I had someone like Jade as a subject."

"Jade's no seer" said Agata.

"With due respect, Agata, I think all Malfoys display hunches that could be developed if any of them cared to do so" said Zlatko. "Lilith, who is pursuing every subject, is getting more out of divination than she anticipated and I have a theory that Lucius' famed susceptibility and Krait's choices of wives for Severus are a hunch that certain bloodlines should be joined and strong mixes of race too to meet future threats."

"Is that supposed to be comforting?" said Agata.

"No" said Zlatko. "If you want comforting, read Hoch Hexen. Don't ask me for my opinion."

"Nobody did, dear, but you gave it anyway" said Xanthe.

Zlatko grinned.

"Part of my charm" he said.

oOoOo

The rest of the chanting group drifted in as Zlatko worked out his runes and the chant to help him. Those who came included Zyrillis' girlfriend Grishilde Stengel. Both youngsters took life too seriously to Maraud; but doing what they could to support the more serious aims of Marauders was something both were willing to do. Zyrillis rather shyly kissed Grishilde and stood for Zlatko to inscribe a circle of runes around him.

Zlatko passed the chant he had devised to the others; the chant was to be in Zyrillis' native German as it was to draw forth the boy's powers, though the protective circle was to be a proof against any ritual sending from Russia. Zlatko activated the runes first with a smooth pass of the wand that had awed murmurs from the Musical Marauders; then he gave each of them their parts. It occurred to Volodya, who had done a year at Prince Peak after all and had come into contact with muggle music during that period, that Jade Snape would have based a chant on singing the song from the muggle group 'Queen' called 'the year of 39' which was about the relativistic effects of space travel at close to the speed of light, as something that would have seemed to Jade a good assimilative correlation to be singing 'so many years have gone, though I'm older but a year'. Different chanters, different styles. Zlatko was rigidly arithmantic in his approach to this as he could not offhand think of any poem suitable to hang a chant on. He aimed it instead at the idea of awakening within sleep.

The chanters ranged themselves about Zyrillis and took their direction from Zlatko.

Zyrillis rose gracefully into the air with his arms outstretched, his eyes open but unfocussed; and there he hung as the chant proceeded. Zlatko, who had been hoping for him to start to speak after the time honoured fashion of seers, started getting a bit wild eyed when Zyrillis had said nothing after several minutes; and chagrin and disappointment chased themselves over the head boy's features.

He brought the chant to an end, subtly changing it to bring Zyrillis back to the ground and gently laying him down to close his eyes in true sleep, waking him with a clap. Zlatko sank to his knees.

"I'm sorry, Fraulein Pippin," he said, "I was so sure it would work! I've risked Zyrillis for nothing, I'm afraid."

"What do you mean, Zlatko?" said Zyrillis. "I had the visions all right; what have you failed in? It was amazing, never known anything like it – though it's pretty spooky! I'm famished by the way. If I didn't tell you what I saw can I have a cup of coffee and some apfeltorte first?"

Zlatko stared.

"You had visions? You never said a thing, so I thought I'd failed you! And you recall them?"

"In horrid detail" said Zyrillis grimly. "And a cup of coffee might help me cope with that too. Oh thank you" as Agata Bacsó passed him a cup. He gulped it, choked slightly and blinked. "Schnapps?" he said.

"You looked like you needed it" said Agata. "I'm good enough at transfiguration to summon and permanence coffee, and to leave the alcohol sufficiently unpermanenced that you will have the immediate effects without damage to your liver nor a hangover."

"Quality!" said Zyrillis, much impressed.

Fortified by coffee, and too with cakes that an elf brought when summoned by the head, he began.

"It's a bit odd really" he said "I think, Zlatko, you actually managed to do more than get me a vision; because I was seeing a bunch of possibilities of what could happen kind of laid on top of each other. The worst case scenario is that Russian supremacists take over the castle entirely – they call themselves the Sons of Zirnitra by the way if that means anything to anyone – and the pure blood girls are taken away as breeding stock and the rest of us become serfs to them with our wands taken. As if that would stop us acting. Oh and those of us in the duelling team who consorted willingly with the Prince Peak animals – their description – are to be killed messily. I must say the schnapps was a welcome counter to that."

"Zirnitra is a legendary Russian wizard reputed to be a dragon animagus" said Zlatko.

"Oh, that makes sense" said Zyrillis "Their standard is a black dragon. Oh and they are going to attack Prince Peak as well, in force. You might want to let Professor Snape know, Frau Bacsó."

Agata gave an exclamation.

"I certainly shall!" she said "Have you any more detail?"

Zyrillis shook his head.

"No ma'am, I'm sorry; only the sense that they plan to attack. My efforts were concentrated on us."

"No matter" said Agata "Severus is perfectly competent to move against any threat. He has had rather a lot of practice after all" she added dryly.

"And in what manner do they attack us?" asked Zlatko.

"By stealth; there is to be a flying coach that suffers a supposed accident overflying the school grounds, and by the laws of hospitality the school cannot turn away those in distress from such" said Zyrillis, frowning. "Later there were visions of hoards of them within the school, and I am not sure where they came from, for a carriage would neither carry hoards, neither, ma'am, would you be likely to let in a veritable army, hospitality or no. I suppose they intend to use some means, once within the castle, to bring in others."

"It's not exactly higher ritual theory to open a gate" said Zlatko.

"Well it isn't for you I suppose" said Zyrillis. "Russians are quite fond of ritual, aren't they?"

"Yes" said Zlatko. "What's the best case scenario? Not giving them hospitality at all?"

"Well no, because then they bring in the hoards and just attack" said Zyrillis. "I got the sense of some of the school not being around, and then the attackers disappearing a few at a time."

"Marauders in the secret passages" said Zlatko. "All the blooded indeed, except me because I'm a known quantity and besides I can then be observing on the outside."

"And we of the staff" said Cacilia "We cannot be concealed. However the blooded of the fifth, the Jade Fag Marauders and the Musical Marauders can operate under the leadership of Volodya who should be out of the way of vengeance from Russians who will call him blood traitor."

"And this time I WILL fight" said Volodya grimly, making all stare at him. "These people dishonour all Russians and they dishonour the beautiful truths of learning by perverting it to be something allowed only those with irrelevant accidents of birth. And what is more, if anyone has a right to call himself a son of Zirnitra it is I, who am descended from him in the female line, and they dishonour my ancestor, even as Voldemort dishonoured Salazar Slytherin in England. I will defend my ancestor's honour!"

This was news to everyone, but being used to such surprises they filed it away for future reference and carried on plotting.

"And shall we bring in the new babes?" asked Zlatka. "That protects them and also gives us extra to draw on."

"I would also recommend bringing in Vighard" said Attila. "He now is looking for a cause to turn his anger towards, and the sense of belonging would help him overcome his uncontrolled temper. I had planned on recommending his blooding when we brought in the babes in any case. He is able and strong, and would be as good for the group as it would be for him."

"Seconded" said Sigismund "He has gone out of his way to help Marauders and understand what we do."

"And hearing our views has been making an effort to get to know Radagas since he returned from so happy a family Christmas" said Clovis. "And by the way, I want Tildi to take Radagas and Vissy right out of the castle."

"Wise" said Agata. "Kreacher and Polly will doubtless give them succour – and another way out in case of dire emergency because they can use elf apparation to, if necessary, evacuate all pupils to the tower, which I fancy will be a different proposition to attack than the school."

Clovis laughed.

"Well I for one shouldn't care to do so" he said. "Anyone who takes on the fey has to be mad or English; but then I repeat myself."

There was some laughter. The idea that there was a safe, if nervous sort of haven to flee to meant that facing this incursion of enemies was less frightening.

"Any idea of when they're coming?" asked Zlatko of Zyrillis. The younger boy shook his head.

"Soon; there was the excuse of being stranded in snow" he said. "Perhaps a few days, perhaps a couple of weeks. I think it is about a week perhaps."

"Good" said Zlatko "Time for Marauders to secrete supplies in the secret passages for a long siege if necessary and bedlinen, all taken quietly and discreetly. Kjell, you're in charge of overseeing that, you're the sensible one. Leva, you will see to setting up spare school wands at strategic places hidden, Wencelada, set up a healer station in the passages, Sofie will show you around, and Elfleda will show Zyrillis, Grishilde and Axel all but the Marauding room itself. The Musical Marauders are under Kjell fetching and carrying."

"Please, Zlatko, I have a diversion from the English joke shop" said Elfleda, and explained the bouncing beetles.

Zlatko grinned.

"Good one" he said. "You kids will all be working without direction from us older ones and must choose what to do and when; well done for sharing that so we all know what's available. I'd be grateful for a handful if I may have them as a potential diversion myself."

"Of course, Zlatko" said Elfleda. "I am glad Traudl took me to England!"

oOoOo

The first year would-be Marauders were summoned to the Head Boy's office by an elf.

"Looks like they caught you out at whatever stupid joke you've been playing" said Malina Doukos.

"I knew it!" said Desiderida Eichstengel. "I saw destruction and fear in the cards; it'll be what they planned, mark my words, and the sister of the Head Boy almost a true seer has found them out."

"Face it Eichstengel, if YOU saw destruction and fear in the cards it's more likely to be a surprise party from the big ones with sticky things to eat" said Marlene, who may not have been much good at divination herself but who could tell that Fraulein Pippin rated Desiderida's abilities a lot lower than Desiderida did.

"If you are in trouble, my – er, Daffodil, I will come and share it!" declared Simone.

Daffodil regarded her.

"Speak up now, Simone, if there is any trouble you know of that we might be getting blamed for" she said.

Simone flushed.

"But no!" she said "It is merely that I am ready to share any blame, to take the blame if you wish it!"

"I don't" said Daffodil, shortly.

"Don't be a little idiot, Simone" said Nedelya "If we get into trouble under our own steam, we'll take the consequences; anything else is dishonourable. If someone is trying to get us into trouble, Zlatko is fair and will find out."

"Shall I come though?" persisted Simone.

"No" said Daffodil shortly. "You weren't summoned. Now dry up, do, or we WILL be in trouble for keeping Zlatko waiting!"

oOoOo

"You took your time" said Zlatko. "Anyone would think you didn't want to be brought fully into the Marauders."

They all gasped.

"We had a slight hold up, Zlatko" said Ilarion. "That little French idiot who hangs around Daffi's neck wanted to come and take the blame for whatever we were summoned for."

"Belgian" said Daffodil absently.

Zlatko elevated an eyebrow.

"Should you be summoned for something?" he asked. "I only enquire in a spirit of sheer nosiness; you seemed to be being remarkably virtuous."

Xanthos sighed.

"That's not really our fault, Zlatko!" he said "We haven't THOUGHT of anything yet, and we don't get much chance to plot because Simone is always under foot, mooing away at Daffodil like a lovelorn boggart."

"Harsh" murmured Zlatko.

"Fair though" said Marlene. "She's got a crush on Daffodil; she's such a dippy kid! And Daffodil is too nice to tell her to get lost because Marauders are supposed to protect the weak."

"Hmph" said Zlatko. "There's protecting the weak and there's being drowned by the dippy. Well I'll see that she's given a relaxing draught to keep her deeper asleep if you're up for being inducted at midnight tonight."

"I'll say we are!" said Ilarion, looking excited. "Did our rune work impress you enough?"

"It wasn't bad" said Zlatko. "Looking after the dippy kid is actually more impressive for being more onerous. And you stuck to it. But you need to know a few things before you agree."

He spoke at length about Harry Potter and the blood pact; and how there was a threat from dark wizards; and how none of the other Marauders would think the less of this group if they preferred to wait before joining it, and merely be aware that there was scary stuff going on to help keep the other first years calm.

"We're in" said Nedelya. "I think I speak for us all?" she looked round her fellows, who all nodded.

"Good" said Zlatko. "We're hoping to bring in Vighard too, now he's learned a lot; and then the decision will be whether to hide you lot with the other Marauders to help attack, or have you looking innocently like the rest but able to back us with power – you'll understand that better when you're joined."

"It would be more fun to be hidden and attack" said Ilarion "But I rather fancy that we'd do more good helping to keep the other kids calm – and, too, not having Simone giving the game away by meeping about where her Daffodil has disappeared to."

Zlatko nodded.

"Spoken as true Marauders" he said. "Very well; third year common room, ten minutes to midnight. Don't be late and for goodness sake remember your slippers, and you'd better put on sweaters under your dressing gowns too."

oOoOo

Vighard Sternschuppe was not worried in being summoned to see Professor Nagy; his conscience was clear, and in fact he felt moderately virtuous. He had volunteered to take prep in place of Xanthe Eulenspiegel when she damned circumstances that she needed to be in two places at once, and though he was not a prefect this had been cleared with the head and he had been issued with a brief note that for the duration of the preparation, he was to be given the status of prefect by those under him. He had helped out Marlene with her arithmancy as he was anxious to make up for having hurt her; and he had helped by making her work through the problem she had been set, and helped her work out seven factorial and got her to recall that it constituted the number of feet in a wizarding mile. He had returned to the sixth form common room to complete his own prep. Marlene was a nice kid. And damned brave to come to school being part goblin too; for when he had gone out of his way to make it up to the youngsters, Marlene had confided this to him.

It had been partly a test; but Vighard did not know that. And he had passed by being taken aback but not cruel about it.

Hence he went to see the transfigurations master with more curiosity than anything else; and Attila Nagy smiled at him, and passed him coffee.

"You've been forged in fire, Vighard" said Attila "And I think you need to know some things about Marauders; because the school is about to face a crisis greater than any we have ever faced, and the school will need strong fighters to fight back – and not necessarily in an obvious way at first – against Russian supremacists."

"I dislike the pure bloods who make a big thing about it" said Vighard. "They were some of those who pushed me around in the kinderhaus. I can't prove pure blood, and frankly I don't care. It's how well you perform not whether you're pure blood, mud blood or – or goblin."

Attila smiled and nodded.

"You'll do" he said. "We had a mind to invite you to join something that is so large it might frighten you in theory, but that if you do join means you will have a family with a closeness so profound you will never feel alone again. The story begins in England, when four boys started Hogwarts school together, almost forty years ago…"

The story of the origins of Marauding, and how the son of one of the original Marauders had been the subject of a prophecy and his feelings of isolation was told; and how Krait and Severus Snape had taken a drastic, untried step into blood magic.

Vighard listened enthralled.

"Sir, are you inviting ME to be a part of this blood pact?" he asked, awed.

"Yes lad" said Attila. "If you will."

"If I will? Sir, I should be honoured – especially considering how badly I have behaved!" cried Vighard.

Attila smiled.

"But then, the original Marauders know about behaving badly – have I not shared their tales? Some with less good cause than you; though you would find the first who Bloodbonded, Severus and Krait, to understand very well about violent home life and dire orphanages. They managed to rise above the upbringing, but I'm given to understand that Krait could be a bit of a brat when she put her mind to it, and Severus had the shock of realising how much he had strayed, in being duped by Voldemort. You've never been tempted to the Dark Arts since Jade showed you that they were for losers; but I'm sure you recognise how he was nearly a victim of his weaknesses, as you too so nearly were a victim of yours."

Vighard nodded.

"Yes, sir; and it's very comforting to know that so – well, almost deified! a figure as Professor Snape has had human weaknesses."

Attila laughed.

"Oh he has plenty of those – he shares a temper with you and me both, that he has trained to keep under control. He can be intolerant, especially of idiots, and he is said to, er, engage in a degree of prolixity that is legendary when he is irritated with the slacking of his pupils."

"Sir, you have me with that word" said Vighard.

"Wordiness" said Attila. "Long and obscure words being his speciality. I just get louder; he gets quieter and quieter and more and more verbose."

"I think I prefer louder" said Vighard.

Attila sighed.

"Alas, I have to be careful because loud can scare the little ones; but with the love of the bloodkindred I can draw on that to maintain a better semblance of calm. You read about the divorce I expect" he added abruptly.

Vighard nodded. It had been reported in some detail as Madam Nora Nagy had been indicted for attempted kidnap and causing actual bodily harm to a minor.

"You became a lot happier when Fraulein Von Freyer joined the staff" he said.

"And especially after I was picked to be an honorary Marauder" said Attila. "I think you wouldn't quite fit as a full Marauder with the two pairs of twins; but perhaps you will work as an honorary Marauder and help out the younger groups?"

"Yes, sir, with all my heart" said Vighard. "What's to do with this immediate threat?"

Attila filled him in; and Vighard vowed to be a support to Zlatko who wanted his sister and twin betrotheds out of sight and ready to wreak mischief.

"I can endure, sir" he said. "And that I will do."

"You're a good man" said Attila. "Doze for a little now in your dormitory and set an alarm charm; join Cacilia and me for coffee at about half ten and I'll give you some more details before the Blooding. Apparently it's traditional to do it at midnight; and Zlatko DOES have his melodramatic side."

Near adult as he was, Vighard could not help being a little excited at such a rendezvous!


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

The five of the first felt deliciously naughty at being in the common room of lordly third years; and gasped in a mix of horror and delight when a section of wall swung open revealing the light of massed lumos charms behind it and masked and robed people holding them.

"Come, oh verminous aspirants to Marauding if you dare" intoned a voice.

They THOUGHT it was Zlatko.

The giggle definitely belonged to Xanthe.

Zlatko poked her. He was doing his best to make it thrilling for the babes and giggles did NOT help. Xanthe worked hard on subsiding; and the five followed on, scared enough and thrilled enough not to be put off by the odd giggle.

Vighard went with Attila, Cacilia, Clovis, Tildi, and Radagas by rather less melodramatic means through one of the entrances in a second floor classroom.

Both groups convened in the Marauding room, the neophytes given pieces of paper to read its location so they might pass the fidelius charm on it.

The youngest ones were duly awed.

On the note of midnight palms were slit, and blood shared; and Vighard wept to find that what wonderful Professor Nagy had said about not being alone was quite true; and that he had family in that professor and others more profoundly close than could ever be imagined.

The feelings of the first year Marauders were summed up by Marlene, who was not known to carry honours for tact.

"Himmel!" she declared "Is it not almost immoral to feel that teachers are human enough to be loved?"

The teachers among the blooded cuffed her very gently with two fingers after, as Volodya explained, the manner of the English. Marlene giggled.

They went back to bed feeling well in need of it, and deeply satisfied beyond any normal satisfaction and were swiftly as fast asleep as the well drugged Simone who had not stirred through the peregrinations of the girls.

And Vighard went to bed happier than he had known it was possible to be, and swearing to protect his little blood siblings.

oOoOo

Ulla-Brit woke the three female Marauders in the morning.

"Are you three coming to the ECC or are you too tired after being out of bed at all hours doing who knows what?" she demanded.

Nedelya, Marlene and Daffodil pulled identical faces. They should have warned Ulla-Brit and Renate and asked them not to say anything; for after a good night's sleep Simone was definitely awake. In point of fact Simone always awoke when the others got up and lay in bed pretending to be asleep resenting Daffodil going off without her, instead of deciding to get up and join in. This morning she sat up in indignation.

"But what is this? Out of bed at all hours? Why? It is not right nor good for you!" she declared. "I will report those boys for making you do this!"

"Get into your silly head that nobody MAKES us do Marauding business" said Daffodil, shortly "And get too into your head that if you fall foul of any bully you'll be GLAD we do extra Marauder business because we'd dare to take on even someone in the sixth. Report us if you will – because if you report the boys you are also reporting us and that we'd make clear – and see what short shrift you get. The Kaiserin knows about Marauder business and our trip was kinda sorta legally sanctioned. Now do dry up! Yes, we are coming, Ulla-Brit; it will be more peaceful, quiet and less wearing to run than to be wailed at by the sobbing boggart."

Simone burst into real tears; Daffodil was over tired and it made her less careful in how she spoke to Simone.

"You are unkind, my Daffodil!"

"I'll be more unkind if you continue to append that possessive" said Daffodil. "All right, I apologise for calling you a sobbing boggart. It was uncalled for. But if you go out of your way to make me dislike you by threatening to sneak, what do you expect? It's not what friends do and if you won't behave like a friend to me, then it's finished and I won't be friendly to you. Nobody makes you get out of bed in the middle of the night, that would be unkind, as you're not of the right calibre to Maraud. So what's to gripe about?"

"I wish you will not Maraud, m – Daffodil!" howled Simone.

"I wish you will not turn on the tears like a baby of five but I guess that's not going to happen either" said Daffodil. "I personally think you'd have more joy out of being friends with Renate who's a nice gentle girl with no particular ambition or causes, but if you want to be my friend you can at least jolly well meet me half way! Now I'm dressed and I'm off; try not to cry too much, you'll give yourself a headache and that would be stupid."

This advice was of course ignored.

oOoOo

Simone fell foul of Attila Nagy in Transfigurations by being dull and stupid at him for the headache she had cried herself into; and on having him demand an explanation for this situation stammered out tearfully how upset she was that Daffodil should be involved in this nasty Marauder group.

Attila looked at her irritably.

"Hasn't anyone explained to you that Marauders stand for fighting bullies and standing up for justice?" he demanded waspishly.

"Well yes, but why can't she have ideals without having to do stupid stuff like get up too early in the morning and go off in the middle of the night?" demanded Simone. "She's selfish and unkind to me!"

"Get this, you silly little girl," said Attila, grimly, "if Marauders had not been introduced into Durmstrang when we were all essentially held to ransom by ODESSA, your tears and whining would not be met with the mere amused contempt by your fellows and the mild exasperation of your elders, but would have been met by the worst sort of bullies seeing how much they could make you cry. I had a classmate when I was at Durmstrang, and he was homesick, and he cried; he tried to conceal it because he knew enough to try to avoid the tender mercies of the bullies. They stood him on desks to wand-burn his legs; harnessed him up and made him pull them on sleds, naked in the snow, whipping him to keep him warm, kept him fetching and carrying half the night so he never had time to do his own prep and earned whippings from the staff for that and a dozen other abuses. I fought them when I could; because I liked him. But I was one alone, and when you are tied up by the wrists so long that when the staff cut you down your legs fail and you soil yourself from the pressure of touching legs to ground then you can't so easily fight back."

The class gasped at this revelation and Attila found himself pulsed with love and support from those Marauders skilled enough to pick up his remembered distress. He drew a breath, a little shakily, and went on,

"Marauders stand for banding together against such things and accepting that sometimes bullies will hurt them while they do what is necessary. If there had been a couple of others brave enough to stand with me, my friend would not have killed himself in his second term. Because that is what happened. Because he was dubbed a cry-baby and fair game. Now I haven't shared that with anyone before but if you think I of all people am going to listen to someone maundering on about selfishness and unkindness when you haven't got a CLUE what the words mean then you can think again. You should be proud that you have been shown as much kindness as you have from those who are ready to accept the onerous duties of Marauding and not to make their jobs harder by hanging round Fraulein Steen's neck like a limply rotting cabbage. A true friend would be ready to support her, not to try to get her into trouble by ill considered remarks. You're making yourself into an object of derision; try not to lose the compassion of the Marauders by making yourself also an object of despite. Now go to the school nurse and ask her for a headache cure and take the morning out of school; Fraulein Steen is a kind enough child to take notes for you in my class and whatever you miss after it."

"Yes sir, of course I will" said Daffodil.

Simone stumbled off; a headache draft would be welcome. And she wanted to cry again at all the terrible things Professor Nagy had told her about Durmstrang. She had thought her father had exaggerated when he told her to lie low and not to let anyone see if she was homesick, and had told her mother that Durmstrang would make her pull herself together. She could hardly believe it could have been so bad!

She decided to ask the nurse; and was horrified when that matter of fact individual told her that wand burning was quite common and that until the advent of chanting, most of such wounds could only be eased not cured, being by their nature cursed wounds.

"But not as bad as the children twitching and half demented from the application of the cruciatus curse" said the nurse.

"But that's an unforgivable curse!" gasped Simone.

"Oh yes! But still used by sixth formers often enough in the old days – and of course by Professor Schrempf until Nefrita Von Strang killed her" said the nurse. "And Nefrita got her friends and their fags banded together against the bullies and ODESSA, for Schrempf was an ODESSA agent and the headmistress dared not sack her. We have a much nicer time in school now" she added. "I left after my ZP's you know; not that I did not think I could do the work but because I could not stand it any longer. I only came back because as nurse I could at least help some of the little ones. My work is very pleasant on the whole now. Now, I'm not going to pry about who's upset you, but if I were you, I'd be going to some Marauders. They sort things out you know."

"It is they who have upset me!" wailed Simone "They keep my friend from me; she should be my friend and only my friend!"

"My!" said the nurse "Nice little ODESSA type you sound young lady! I should think if you have fallen afoul of the Marauders you probably did something to deserve it – like forcing this friend of yours to do something dishonourable I shouldn't wonder. Well, you're young and have time to learn not to be selfish and controlling so you don't end up being one of the dark witches Marauders go after."

The nurse might have misunderstood what Simone meant about keeping her friend from her – it was not an unreasonable misconception to assume this friend might have been placed under Marauder protection rather than actually being a Marauder – but being called selfish, controlling and an ODESSA type stung Simone enough to actually think. Daffodil too had called her selfish and accused Simone of trying to make her behave dishonourably. She spent her morning cogitating, and it has to be said going over in her own mind how terrible Durmstrang must have been once. Some resentment towards her father also surfaced here if he thought she was to be going to so terrible a place! He was a hard man at times, and Simone had always been cosseted and protected from life by her mother. And it would be why her mother had not been keen for her to come here.

Simone did not especially want to grow a backbone in the way her father had meant, in becoming hardened; but she determined that she could show him up by working hard and not failing as she thought he half expected her to do.

Consequently she thanked Daffodil with genuine warmth for taking notes for her.

"I have not meant to be selfish" she said "I am so lonely though without Maman!"

Daffodil bit off a comment before she made it that she did not want to be anyone's mother; and made herself smile kindly.

"You will be less lonely if you make more than one friend" she said firmly. "Renate is lonely also as Ulla-Brit is a decent enough type but rather inclined to make decisions for other people whether they want them or not. And Renate is so gentle!" she added. "We will all do things together, but if you are friends with Renate also you will have her when I am busy with those things that would scare you both, you know! I do wish you will try the ECC; you will find bigger people ready to help with the things you find hard, you know."

"Well I might" said Simone, to whom help with things she found hard was an incentive in her new-found resolve to show her papa that she could do at least as well as him.

Daffodil heaved a sigh of relief. Poor Professor Nagy to have to remember so awful a time – all the Marauders had just touched him on the arm as they left the class – but if it had got through to Simone it had been worth it.

It might be said that Simone did not forget her tears or sentimental attachment to Daffodil; but she did try to hang on her less, and the, at first grudging, friendship towards Renate did deepen over time and she was to learn the lesson that to have a friend you must be a friend.

oOoOo

To those who were expecting trouble, waiting for it was a bit of a strain; rather, said Zoltan to his intimates, a bit like waiting for the result of a test that you knew you had done badly in and were expecting the professor to wax most irritable.

"And like I felt about coming to school when my mother was busy scaring me with bad stories and telling me how violent papa was" he said with feeling.

Bronislava slipped a hand into his and the others just reached out to touch his arm. Their bloodsong told them how upset he had been by his mother's controlling antics.

"We really ought to be diverting the minds of the little ones" said Sigismund "And by the way, we haven't settled a Marauder name for them."

"The Defending Marauders" said Beremud. "Let's go and teach them some musical magic so they can hold up shield charms simply by drumming on their palms."

"Good thinking" the others spoke in unison.

"And by the way, will we teach them how to get into the maze?" asked Corneliu.

"Yes" decided Sigismund. "They might need it, though I hope not. Without full control of it, it's rather too cold to be mucking around in a maze."

They went to find the younger ones and discovered that Vighard had had a similar idea of teaching them all the jinxes he knew.

They let him in on the Maze secret as well after a brief hesitation. He was their kindred now after all; and if not strictly speaking a Marauder, times like this meant that supporters had to Maraud too.

Vighard was amazed.

"You kids are remarkable" he said. "I was impressed enough when you brought us here in the fire, but now I know a bit more about all that you've done I'm blown away. I'll be proud to help Maraud."

The youngest Marauders were scared and apprehensive; but also appreciative of getting to know more magic than they were ever likely to be finding out without a lot of surreptitious library work, even if they knew what to look for; and when Sigismund gave a yell of delight they might jump, but were aware they were about to learn even more.

"Deafen us, why don't you" said Corneliu.

"WHAT have we been studying on our own time?" said Sigismund. "Only pattern magic! We can brew up an indelible ink and draw the shield charm on the kids, Vighard and Zlatko so they can ignore the cruciatus curse and pain reducing patterns so even if they have their arms twisted they can kinda ignore that too. That gives them the option of doing other magic instead."

"We don't want the little ones acting like they can't feel stuff" said Bronislava "They might be injured without realising it – and besides it might give it away. Older ones being stoic is one thing."

"Well we'll do a lesser reduction on them then and rely on them to ham it up" said Sigismund. "But you reckon it's a good idea?"

"I think it's a brilliant idea" said Vighard. "I wish I'd pissed off Marauders enough to get to spill my guts earlier so I had more time to learn more."

"Well if you're spending holidays with us, Papa and Mama and I can take you through stuff you're interested in" said Zoltan. "And by the way, as mama is your guardian and can become your trustee there's no reason you shouldn't do a year at Prince Peak too."

"I think I will" said Vighard.

The result of this was a lot of drawing for Bronislava as she had to do three little girls as Sigismund declared that the buttocks was the best place to put any surreptitious shield charm, hidden from any but the most close scrutiny and no grown up had any right to be scrutinising anywhere so personal and besides it was a nice smooth surface to draw on without losing the pattern. Zlatko when informed of the Musical Marauders' decision to help protect him raised an eyebrow at their reasoning but conceded that it had a few points. He insisted that he and Vighard would wear robes and lie down and have them raised as the least damaging way of doing this insofar as the dignity of sixth formers was concerned.

The Musical Marauders shrugged; the ways of near grown-ups were strange and as senility was clearly setting in they could not really help it.

oOoOo

When a flying coach was seen to be in apparent difficulties outside the school one chill afternoon, the Marauders and Blooded of all levels heaved a sigh of relief. The waiting was over.

Wencelada, Axel, Grishilde, Zyrillis, all the Twin Marauders bar Zlatko, the Jade Fag Marauders and the Musical Marauders and Volodya went quietly to previously prepared positions in the secret passages, Eulenspiegels and Zlatka to the passages Xanthe and Xanthippe had discovered, the continuation of which led to the staffroom, the four non-marauders to the secret room at the top of the house to hold it as a stronghold, the Jade Fag Marauders and the Musical Marauders into the main passages that ran between the kitchens and the Marauding Room.

The refugees begged succour; there were four of them.

They were duly admitted, and once taken to a bathroom for hot baths and to freshen up they went into action, under the eyes of the carefully installed view-o-sneaks.

"This is easier than I feared" said the leader "I thought we might have to have a bit of a running battle while the others came in. Help me unfold it."

'It' was a circle of rope made up of intricately tied knots; and Volodya told the others that Russians did a lot of ritual magic using the patterns of knots, like and yet unlike the magic in Celtic knotwork.

Laid on the ground and activated by wand, the ropes glowed green; and men with wands at the ready started running out of it, somehow twisting into being upright by swinging over the lip like, muttered Elfleda, who had seen some films, Jareth the Goblin King in Labyrinth.

"A vulnerable moment" said Kjell "And a pity we didn't think to have some kind of attack ready for when they came out."

"Yes but if any got back we wouldn't then get them all" said Leva, watching intently. "We can however sabotage it so they can't get back nor call in any more."

"Won't it alert them on the other end if it stops glowing?" asked Sofie.

"It would if we sabotaged it in a brute force sort of way" said Leva "But I was thinking of getting Volodya to come up with a chant that would subtly change the knotwork so anyone using it, either way, sort of passes through and is immediately gated to somewhere nasty. The middle of the forest where the centaurs are for example, or the bottom of the lake."

"Good thinking" said Volodya. "I think actually I might deposit anyone who touches the area of the gate into fey space. They will never get out and will be caught until they starve to death; but our people might escape or be readily rescued. Either that or send them to a rath somewhere where the fey will deal with them."

Sofie giggled.

"Give them to Jade?" she suggested.

"Certainly not" said Volodya "I like Jade; and her pupils are not yet sufficiently self confident to consider it a high treat."

The Russian troops all left the bathroom without troubling to leave it guarded.

"Amateurs" said Sigismund in disgust as Volodya led the Musical Marauders to sing sweet nothings to the knotwork to persuade it to pass any coming from this end, and immediately re-gate anyone from the other end, to the inside of the Zauberbundesbanke where they would have a lot of explaining to do. Gentle Volodya baulked at the last minute at using his first gut desire to send them to the evanesco place and employed his sense of humour instead. On the principal that bankers have no sense of humour whatsoever when it comes to stray people in their vaults. He did not explain how he came to know the location for gating directly into the German Wizarding Bank; but when Sigismund guessed that Jade had probably found this out in case the fight against ODESSA had needed funds, and to deny them to the enemy he was not far out. The person who had done the cracking of the numbers had been Volodya himself who sometimes was more on the ball than he seemed and who liked to have contingency plans.

oOoOo

"So, Agata Bacsó, you will see that as I have more than enough troops to subdue your naughty children, and we have your youngest members under the wands of my most ruthless men, you have no option but to obey me" said the Russian leader. The first years had been herded to the great hall where many of them were weeping in terror, not merely Simone. Simone actually was trying not to cry since Daffodil was not, and the Belgian girl wanted to impress her idol.

"What kind of an outrage is this?" demanded Agata. "Why have you broken the rules of hospitality in such a way?"

The man sneered.

"The rules of hospitality apply only to people. You have blood traitors here as well as blood taints, and those who would even consort with animals. My cousin Sergei Dolokhov will be avenged for the treacherous way you and your pupils willingly consorted with such animals as those in Prince Peak. You will produce your duelling team."

Agata surveyed him levelly.

"Most of them are not here" she said "As they have applied to undertake time studying higher magic at Prince Peak I thought it reasonable to let them go on a trip."

She had not lied. It would be reasonable for them to go on a trip. If they wanted to.

His eyes burned.

"Higher Magic!" he almost spat. "Snape has you fooled; he knows no higher magic! Only the Order of the Dragon in Kiev have any understanding of ritual and higher magic!"

Agata shrugged.

"Believe as you choose" she said "I note that it is we you attack, not Prince Peak. The pupils currently absent from my school will take revenge for anything you do here."

"There you are wrong you Slavic bitch!" said the man. "For Prince Peak is currently under attack and they will be all enslaved within a few hours!"

"How niculturniy to swear in front of us" said Ilarion. "This serf has escaped his Boyar masters and is trying to pretend to be a big man."

One of those levelling wands on the children cast the stinging hex at Ilarion.

It was all Ilarion could do not to cast back, disarming the man; but he was there to endure and must cry out as though in pain.

The invader turned back to Agata after having turned a lowering glare on Ilarion.

"You say 'most'. Which then of your duelling team remain?"

"Only the head boy; it seemed inappropriate for him to be out of the castle" said Agata.

"Ah. Well he is the worst offender, and soon he will be begging to be merely enslaved" said the man.

"I shouldn't bet on it if I were you" said Agata. "He is very talented."

"Where is this head boy?" demanded the man.

"I'm here, old boy" said Zlatko. "Would you care to duel me? I find you offensive and your manner to my revered preceptress totally unacceptable."

"Seize him!" the leader nodded to several of his men.

"So brave" sneered Zlatko. He might be expected to fight; and that would reduce some of the fifty or so wanded wizards that there were. He and the other blooded could take them easily, but not when there were innocent school children who might be hurt in the spellfire.

Three of the four sent to seize him strove vainly to move forward as they turned inexorably to stone; the fourth managed to draw wand and cast – predictably – the cruciatus curse.

"Have to do better than that old boy" said Zlatko, disarming him with a negligent flip of the finger and gluing him to the floor. Watching him vainly try to dance to the tarantallegra curse with his feet glued to the floor was entertaining until Zlatko realised that it was causing all kinds of painful dislocations; and this one too became stone.

It was not to be supposed that even Zlatko with the aid of a painted shield charm could stand against large numbers of adult wizards; and the full body bind eventually immobilised him. Seven other wizards had nettles growing out of their noses and were a delicate lilac colour.

_Finite incantatum_ took care of that; the statues were another matter.

"Turn my people back to flesh!" roared the leader.

Zlatko shrugged as best he might.

"Don't know if there even is a spell for it" he said. "Mandragora would work; though you'll have to get some in I should think."

The leader slapped him. Being bound, Zlatko could not ride it; and he silently blessed the Musical Marauders for their pain-negating magic.

"Who is the potions professor?" the Russian demanded "I DEMAND that you fetch mandragora!"

Cacilia came forward.

"From where?" she asked. "Our supplies were completely destroyed last term in a fire; we have replaced only essential supplies, not the most esoteric ones."

"You LIE!" he hissed.

"I am the daughter of a Baron of old and noble line; I do not lie" said Cacilia. "Did you not read in the news about the fire? It was all over the German newspapers when it got out. Or legilimens me; surely someone who considers the magic of Severus Snape to be negligible will find that easy."

He paled but stared into her eyes. He was not very good and Cacilia easily drew up what she wanted him to see, the devastation in the potions dungeon.

"So" he said. "A catastrophic fire. Well they will have to wait while you brew more."

"Certainly" said Cacilia. "You will send someone to purchase mandrakes and other ingredients? I should have thought purchasing the potion might have been better, but as you are happy to wait the three weeks it takes to brew, once you have brought me what I need I will be happy to make the draught."

"It takes so long?" he was horrified.

"Most powerful potions take a considerable while to brew" said Cacilia dryly "It is why the highest scoring ZH potions are prepared in advance – so the candidates have time to brew them."

He snarled.

"Then I will have to have some sent from Prince Peak when they are subdued there – Snape is bound to have some as he plays with potioneering not the manly arts."

"Oh, is that why he always wins against dark wizards because of the inherent superiority of womanly arts?" asked Cacilia brightly.

He ground his teeth.

"Silence woman!" he shouted. "Bacsó – you will tell the castle slaves that they are to obey me and my men, and us only!"

"And if I do not?" said Agata.

"If you do not, my men will take one of those juniors and start by wand burning all the child's clothes off followed by the skin" said the Russian, viciously "Until you DO so order it."

Agata paled and clicked her fingers.

Ritty, the father of Clotie who had been forced to kill herself by Antonin Dolokhov, turned up. He was one who had accepted freedom – but Zlatko had made sure to advise him not to be clothed right before the extra troops had turned up. Agata managed not to blink at his dirty dishclout.

"Ritty, this is the cousin of Gospodin Dolokhov" she said levelly "And I have to order all the castle slaves to obey him as they would me, and also obey his men. You must go immediately and relay the order to the other elves."

Ritty looked shrewdly at the headmistress. She had said 'slaves' not elves.

"Yes mistress!" he squeaked, and snapped his fingers to vanish.

Agata worked on not looking as satisfied as this new Dolokhov was doing. Ritty would be perfectly capable of making his own decision on how to act!


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Ritty led a group of angry elves to Clovis Gierek who was still in his study.

"Please Herr Gierek, these elveses are ready to be given clothes" said Ritty.

"Certainly" said Clovis, who had been collecting odd socks for just such an emergency. He started passing them out. "Why now?"

"That Dolokhov fellow has insisted that Frau Bacsó give orders to all castle slaveses to obey him and his men like they would her!" squeaked Ritty "But if none of them is slaveses, it doesn't count!"

"No it doesn't, Ritty" said Clovis gravely. "And then if we need to take the children away, the elves can choose to help or not."

"Oh Herr Gierek, will we have to run away?" asked Ritty, almost sobbing.

"Doubt it" said Clovis. "We cannot fight back openly as they might hurt the little ones, but a few at a time can be taken out, and perhaps sleeping draughts slipped to those who watch the children."

"Or poison!" squeaked Ritty enthusiastically. "Elveses will be called to bring them eatses and drinkses. Leave that to us!"

"Good man" said Clovis. Protecting the elves was what had been in mind; but getting their willing participation meant that this would soon be easier.

oOoOo

The hostage children were to be taken back to their common room as several of the little girls were sobbing that they needed the toilet; and the Russians did not want to have to deal with smelly brats. This would make life easier and Ritty smiled grimly to himself as he took himself off to the kitchen to prepare hot tea Russian fashion for the four watching the children.

Sigismund emerged from a secret passage.

"Ritty, did you take on board what Aunt Agata really wanted?" he asked

"Yes Herr Sigismund!" squeaked Ritty "All elveses is now free and we is going to poison the men who have the children!"

"Good" said Sigismund "Are there enough elves to carry all the children to a place of safety? We are setting up a secret room under fidelius charm at the top of the castle."

Ritty beamed.

"If the little master will show me where, it will be done as soon as these interlopers are dead!" he said.

Sigismund took him by the hand and apparated to the room where Wencelada, Grishilde, Zyrillis and Axel were waiting.

"The little ones are coming here shortly" said Sigismund tersely "Grishilde, Wencelada, you stay with them, you boys can join us if you like to start dealing with the Russians as soon as the kids are safe."

"We'd be delighted" said Axel, grimly.

oOoOo

The grim wanded watchers did not for a moment suspect that their tea had not been ordered by their leader; they might be a little surprised that he should be so thoughtful but then, he needed them kept alert.

They drank thirstily.

The poison was slow enough to make sure they had drunk enough not to notice a faster drinker keeling over; and fast enough that paralysis crept through the veins to prevent any action.

Two of the men were still sufficiently conscious as elves in livery started turning up and each taking a child by the hand.

Their looks of uncomprehending fury as they struggled for breath before the paralysis completed its job of stopping the working of first lungs then heart was joy to the heart of Ritty, who was ready to do any kind of bad turn to any supporter of any Dolokhov. Somehow it seemed meet to him after the death by burying of his daughter by the other Dolokhov.

Four elves also took the bodies of the dead and dying Russians and left them in the forest, magically burying them so the denizens of the forest should not be poisoned in eating them.

The majority of the first years were too shocked and frightened to ask questions, and when fed milky coffee and cakes under the care of gentle Wencelada and serious Grishilde just accepted that they were rescued and cried a little and when told to go and lie down in the hastily organised extension of the room into wizarding space full of camp beds went thankfully to do just that.

"What do WE do, Wencelada?" asked Nedelya.

"Stay put and make sure you watch any Russians in the class in case any of them are spies or otherwise likely to side with their countrymen" said Wencelada, grimly. She had received word from Axel that he had needed to jinx Aglaia Hallow into a ball as she had, as reported by Eve Cherrytree, intended to inform the Russians that some of the elves were free and should be killed. Aglaia had exclaimed in English as she had thought of this, and Eve, overhearing, had gone to look for one of the four she thought of as Marauders in her own form.

Axel had managed to pull out the legilimensy of his life to find Aglaia's intentions – he thought he ought to check, as Eve had only said she was afraid Aglaia might do something awful – and had left her boneless, green, and langlocked in a boot cupboard. That should keep her occupied and out of the way for the four hours or so it would take for the spells to wear off, and by then hopefully most of the opposition should be dealt with.

Eve had received due praise from Axel and had flushed, pleased.

"I have been stupid" said Eve "But I think I know enough now to realise who the real enemy are. And I'm afraid Aglaia would be at home with them. Anything I can do to help, Von Rabe, I will."

Axel nodded.

"Nip down to the kitchen and run me a tea leaf reading" he said. "That's your speciality isn't it? You can call for an elf to take you so you don't have to go past the Russians. Any signs and portents that we're on track has to help."

Eve nodded.

"I'm not very good but even I was picking up signs of strife and treachery" she said. "So Miss Pippin put it all together? And you Marauders were prepared?"

"Pretty much" said Axel. "And get an elf to bring me your readings – it's just occurred to me that if they realise you're English you might be at greater risk so stay with the elves or ask them to take you to join the babes. Yes, they're rescued" he added as her eyes widened.

Eve duly called for an elf; she was quite happy to be hidden out of harm's way.

oOoOo

Eve might not be expected to get a lot out of tea, but she was one less person for Axel to worry about. As the Russian leader, who had confided his name to be Arkadi Michaelov Gordyzadnitza, a son of Sergei Dolokhov's aunt, seemed bent on trying to torture Zlatko, getting the head boy away before his sister and girlfriends started to move on their own was a priority.

Gordyzadnitza was getting frustrated that Zlatko seemed able to hold a shield against the cruciatus curse even bound and the Russian was laying about the boy's face with a riding crop.

It was also frustrating him that the cuts were immediately healing as the blood group poured power into Zlatko basically with the intent of irritating the enemy. Zlatko had pulsed people to tell them he chose to be the focus of the man's ire to distract him; and the other Marauders had strict instructions to catch such of his men as they might in twos and threes and deal with them.

The Musical Marauders felt unequal to dealing with anyone permanently but they did know the binding charm and several Russians were now dangling from their ankles in the dungeon that could only be entered and exited using parseltongue, that had been set up to protect Zhanargul from her uncle, the Russians looking like so many flies in a spider's larder.

Vighard had tried to intervene to stop the Russian bully hitting the head boy; and had been struck so hard he had fallen and hit his head. The cut was nasty but Gordyzadnitza would not permit Agata to have anyone come to help Vighard and told her to send all the brats to their beds.

"They have had no supper" said Agata.

"It will do them no harm to go hungry for once" sneered Gordyzadnitza "When they are serfs they will have to learn that food is earned. And make it clear that any who get out of their beds to steal food will be dealt with summarily by my men as they patrol."

Agata, boiling with rage, relayed the message. The Marauders hugged themselves with glee. With children out of the way and patrols of a few men wandering around, disposing of them in detail would be much easier.

One patrol meanwhile had gone to relieve those watching the first years and returned in consternation that they had vanished. Gordyzadnitza raged at Agata; but it was clear that she was as taken aback as he, if sneering delightedly that his people were obviously very incompetent if they permitted eleven year olds to overcome them.

"They cannot have done!" screeched the Russian "You will find out what has happened! If you do not, you will die!"

"Well that was on the cards anyway" said Agata coolly. "How am I to find out? You have taken control of the slaves from me; I cannot ask them to look for the little masters and mistresses."

He stared; and snapped his fingers.

Ritty turned up.

"What does new Master want?" he squeaked.

"The children – the small ones; do you know where they are, elf?" demanded Gordyzadnitza.

"Oh yes master!" said Ritty. He had not been asked where they were after all and saw no need to volunteer any information.

"Well where are they?" demanded Gordyzadnitza.

Ritty made himself look puzzled.

"Did not Master order his men to take them there?" he squeaked.

"I gave no orders for them to be moved! Did you help move them?"

"Master ordered the slaves to obey his men, was that WRONG, Master?" Ritty looked as stupid as he could manage.

"My MEN? Ordered you to move them?" Gordyzadnitza stared foolishly.

"Because they would fetch a good price!" squeaked Ritty.

"Where have you taken them, elf?" demanded Gordyzadnitza.

"Why to the lodge, Master, where carriages were arranged!" said Ritty, all big eyes. Being able to lie to a master was great fun.

Gordyzadnitza positively howled with anger; and sent eight of his men to overtake and intercept the traitors who sought to feather their own nests with the sale of the children.

Zoltan had to exit a passage and half throttle both Periklis Theodrakis and Zahid Malik into submission to stop them attacking the Russian, while Sigismund did as much for Alois Dunkelschwann. Hasty words that the elf was lying to save the little ones had to be hissed into unwilling ears and Zoltan gave up and confunded both of them.

Eight out of the way was good, they would be some time getting there and back and might be expected to mill around looking for clues for a while rather than risk their leader's ire and suspicion by reporting back that the children were not there.

Meanwhile, bloodsong was healing Vighard who had the sense to lie still and quiet. Into his hands appeared some bouncing beetles and a pulse suggesting five minutes.

Vighard set up the beetles and counted to himself groaning artistically as the minutes went by.

As he had expected the Russian leader could not resist coming over to aim a vicious kick at him.

The bouncing beetles did their bouncing and buzzing and Gordyzadnitza let out a yell of shock and batted at them. His men were staring. As the beetles wound down and buzzed harmlessly to the ground he turned at a cry from one of the guards.

Zlatko's bound figure had disappeared.

oOoOo

Zlatko was not best pleased.

"I was keeping their attention – why did you have to do that?" he demanded of the Eulenspiegels, who were kissing him.

"Terror tactics" said Xantippe "And to keep him off balance."

"And because we want you directing the mop up" said Xanthe.

"And for the morale of our own troops" said Zlatka. "A live leader is more useful than a bound martyr. We need to get Vighard out next; he's starting on him for the bouncing beetles."

Gordyzadnitza had heaved Vighard to his feet and was shaking him.

Zlatko grinned, apparated right out beside them, stuck his fingers up Gordyzadnitza's nostrils hard and grabbed Vighard to apparate away again.

Gordyzadnitza howled again.

He rounded on Agata.

"How has he done this? It is an anti-apparating zone! You have had no chance to cancel it, I have been watching you!" he cried.

"Well Zlatko HAS studied some higher magics with Professor Snape and his family" said Agata "But as his higher magics are inferior to yours as you say, I should think that it will be easy for you to find out what he did and how he did it. Perhaps you'll let me know too; I have no idea" she added.

She was still unsure how they apparated in an anti-apparating zone, and for the first time was glad to be able to say so truthfully.

Zlatko, not trusting the man, apparated back, grabbed Agata and disappeared with her in the nick of time as the wash of green from the killing curse was launched at her.

"I was preparing speculum" said Agata.

"Yes, but then he'd be dead and his men would kill anyone in sight" said Zlatko. "Now he's mad and they're all being sent to look for us. Excuse me Headmistress; I have Russians to kill" and he bowed and clicked his heels punctiliously.

Those staff who could took the opportunity to apparate smoothly into the various passages and proceeded to split into pairs to hunt the searching Russians.

Cacilia, catching a pair entering the bedroom shared by lovely Desolina with Zlatka and Gisela Schutzmann, had no compunctions at all as both leered and started to lift their robes; and she electrocuted both with a neat lightning bolt encompassing the pair.

"Hotter stuff than they were expecting" said Gisela who had been dithering over the killing curse.

"Put them out of sight in your bathroom" said Cacilia "I'm sorry for the inconvenience."

"Better an inconvenience than what they intended!" shuddered Desolina "I will chant an invisibility to cover them so we need not look at them."

"Poor Desi, you've been rather through it this year" said Gisela.

"But I come out of it stronger" said Desolina. "Fraulein Von Freyer, what may we do to help?"

"Chant up some maggot pustules for that Russian fellow" said Cacilia vindictively.

Desolina beamed in delight.

"What an excellent idea!" she said "And as I can recall his name I can use Finnish naming magic to tie them to him also, and make them smell bad too."

Cacilia left her to it. Desolina was the next best chanter after Zlatko after all. It was petty and childish but somehow meet.

oOoOo

Of those chasing Russians, Zlatko, Clovis, Attila, Cacilia and perhaps surprisingly Volodya were taking no chances and were using killing spells. Zlatko, Clovis and Cacilia leaned towards the electrocution spell Irmi Luytens had invented, Attila summoned superheated flames within them to incinerate them immediately, and Volodya favoured a neat and surgical use of the cutting spell across the jugular. The rest tended to stick to turning to stone for those who could, and binding for those who could not.

It was a long night; and as it went on the Russians were becoming increasingly twitchy. As well they might, of course; but none dared explain to their leader that their numbers were diminishing.

Deprived of Agata to boast to and intimidate, Gordyzadnitza was stalking about the great hall muttering to himself that surely all was through with Snape by now, and that the last pockets of resistance must soon me mopped up and then he would hear by floo. He kept staring at the big fire.

It remained resolutely as normal as a magical Gubraithian fire might ever be.

And then the pustules started coming up and exploding! That was the fault of that blasted Bulgarian boy Zlatko! He would roast him over a Gubraithian fire himself when he caught him! The STENCH was awful – and what were the maggots SINGING? Something about stirring a cauldron hard? Preposterous!

He would catch Zlatko; the elves would find and being him!

He sent for elves.

No elves came.

Zlatko had made the call that the elves were all to now be invisible and not to answer any summons at all from the Russians.

Gordyzadnitza went striding off to the kitchen to see what this insubordination meant and to vanish a few elves if they persisted in it. That was Agata's doing! She had wrested control of them back!

Gordyzadnitza failed to see the runes inscribed on the passageway that led to the kitchen. The runes also included his name, had be managed to notice the paler white chalk on pale grey stone in a passage that was surprisingly ill lit. He walked into the circle and squealed – literally squealed – in terror as his clothes fell away and his body shrank drastically until he was an elf.

The pustules were still exploding maggots crooning Katti Krächzen's hit.

oOoOo

"Well now," drawled Zlatko, strolling out of concealment with his hands in his pockets, "I see someone other than me is capable of a rather competent piece of chanting – maggots singing 'come and stir my cauldron hard'? Dear me, that almost constitutes the Dark Arts in their grubbier form."

Gordyzadnitza stared.

"You mean it wasn't you that did it you horrid brat?" he squeaked.

"Not I, elf" said Zlatko. "By the way, aren't you glad some of us almost split our tongues in half doing the chant to break the elf curse to self punish? Without it you'd be banging your head on the floor for speaking to a human like that."

"But I'm not an elf! It's just a transfiguration!" squealed the Russian.

"Actually it's a lot more profound than that" said Zlatko "Using runes and chanting – the higher magics you reckon Sev Snape doesn't really know. But feel free to use your own higher magic to get out of it if you can. If your new master gives you time off to try. Of course he'll likely change your name; Arkadi is a bit too dignified for a slave. Kaddi would do quite nicely I should think."

The elf Kaddi stared in horror.

"MASTER?" he squeaked.

"Well you may have noticed that you have no clothes" said Zlatko. "Unlike a free elf. Like all the castle elves who are liveried. They chose to play act at you however. Being free they are not BOUND to obey orders. You, however, are."

"I feel no compulsion to obey you!" snapped Kaddi the elf.

"Oh, but then I'M not your master" said Zlatko "Other than in terms of being, er, more powerful than you can possibly imagine. Here's your master" and he waved a hand as Ritty came forward.

Ritty bowed.

"The death debt owed by Antonin Dolokhov to my line is paid in the life of his cousin" he squeaked solemnly. "Come, Kaddi; there is a lot of mess caused by those Russian potato-heads, you will have to work hard to clean it up."

The elf that had once been Arkadi Michaelov Gordyzadnitza howled in anguish as he felt the pull of compulsion like unto the Imperious Curse that would make him obey. And obey not a human but an ELF! The humiliation was total.

Zlatko was grinning. With Ritty free, it was possible to stretch the magical laws of the wizarding world over a murdered relative and the debt owed by the kindred of a murderer to make tying the obedience to Ritty more easily than to anyone else.

"Ritty" said Zlatko "Just in case you get all compassionate any time when he's wept a few buckets, I have used legilimensy on him. He was on his way to see why you were all insubordinate and was planning on sending a few elves to the evanesce place to make a point."

Ritty regarded Kaddi with dislike.

"Rit – I – will bear that in mind, Herr Asimov" he said. "What are you waiting for you lazy creature? Get a move on!"

The dismal new elf was hied off to begin his life learning a few new things about the state of slavery that he so blithely endorsed.

"Zlatko, are you planning on having that creature tied to us at the castle?" asked Agata Bacsó.

Zlatko bowed.

"Old proverb; keep your friends close, and your enemies closer" he said. "Besides, he can't go telling tales to his kin; I have disrupted the part of him that could use the sophistry of belonging to either his father's or his mother's families because I can use the death-debt magic. He is broken from kin to atone. It's an old law; I chose to invoke it in the runes. He cannot betray Ritty."

Agata sighed.

"It is as well that you know what you are doing" she said. "Very good. How much more is there to do tonight?"

"Not a lot" said Zlatko in satisfaction.

oOoOo

The eight who had been sent to collect the children from the lodge returned from their fool's errand rather nervously. They had every right to feel nervous but not for the reasons they had thought.

They were taken firmly into custody by the Twin Marauders, Vighard and the four fifth form supporters. Of the eighty or so wizards who had come with Gordyzadnitza some score were dangled in storage in the dungeon, half as many again as that decorated the halls as statues, and the rest were dead. Vehmgerichten came to take away the living and the statues and to relieve the poor abused children of the bodies.

It might not be said that the poor abused schoolchildren had taken on the fighting of dark wizards with the abandon and enthusiasm of their counterparts in Hogwarts; but as Zlatko said cheerfully, it was early days, and doubtless the Russian supremacists and the French New Sun order would provide European schools with enough entertainment to hone the children into enjoying the sport of dark wizard bashing.

Agata was afraid he might be right.

Casualties had been minimal – mostly Zlatko and Vighard, who had after all been the volunteers to be casualties to keep attention off the others.

"We didn't have to use the maze at all" said Sigismund in some disappointment.

"Good. It is then an extra layer of defence that is there against a real emergency" said Zlatko. "And having it there meant we could act confidently, knowing that you could lead the rest of the school into it at need. It's mostly a defence against the fey, and I don't say we might not need it in the future if these gits consort with that sort of trash. Or use the more easterly traditions of Russian knowledge to raise great form spirits. Remember, Russia has many ties with the east, and Cyrillics themselves derive from the Greek as transported through the Eastern Orthodox church along with plenty of other stuff from Byzantium, long before it was Constantinople, let alone Istanbul. Indeed there have been traditions brought to the Rus who were essentially Vikings when the Varangian guard served there in what they called Miklagard."

"You are a walking history book, Zlatko" grinned Sigismund.

"I like history" said Zlatko. "Don't neglect the iconography of the Christian tradition in Byzantium, you and your lot, when you learn about art; it ties whole swathes of the east together and there are symbols and signs that can be exploited, I should think, by someone knowledgeable enough to look for them. And it draws too on the Roman tradition from when Byzantium was only the Eastern Capital of the Roman world before the barbarians overran the Western Roman Empire."

"But it got a lot more, well, PRECIOUS" said Sigismund "From icons and reliquaries to – to Fabergé eggs."

"Yes; and if you can link the reliquaries to Fabergé eggs in tradition you're more or less there" said Zlatko. "What, did you think you were the only ones who read on your spare time?"

"You have spare time?" grinned Sigismund.

Zlatko cuffed him.

It was a time of unwinding; Agata had declared another holiday day to let the children get over the horrors of being invaded, with a slap up feast of celebration at which she made a speech praising the Marauders and their supporters for being instrumental in defeating the enemy, along with the elves who had all been brave enough to accept freedom as a means of defeating the invaders.

There was to be an honours board on which all the names of the active Marauders were to be inscribed and another naming all the elves individually.

Agata was not going to have any loyalty issues from her liveried elves; they adored her.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"Hey, Cherrytree, is that what it was like in Prince Peak, all these scary people attacking?" asked Lothar Weisel of Eve, once the school was back to normal and the shock was wearing off.

"Not really" said Eve "Because we never had anyone inside the castle you know! But there were plenty of attacks, and the professors and Marauders and other member of the Muggle Studies Hobby Group used to fight them off, and they always seemed to enjoy it. I – I thought they were just pretending until I found I could be useful. Which made me wonder if they might not just have treated it like sport. Only I do not want to do anything violent or scary."

"It isn't for everyone" put in Wencelada. "Grishilde and I would have fought to defend the first years but we preferred not to have to. We were glad of your help, by the way, Eve, telling some of those more wakeful babes not to get in a taking over a few dark wizards. The English way is very impressive."

Eve flushed. In point of fact she had flung those words with a degree of impatience at a tearful child who had wakened from a nightmare and had been quite poleaxed when the child – Renate Dunelschwann – had smiled at her and had said,

"Oh yes, you are English and are used to such things. Thank you!" and had gone obediently to sleep again.

She wondered if she ought to explain to her peer group, if not to Renate, that being English did not immediately make one keen to have a crack at dark wizards.

"Professor Snape usually seemed to have it all in hand, so none of us had to worry" she said. "I suppose that being used to being attacked helped. I don't think I was as scared as some people" here she hid a grin that some of the frightened people her age had been the hard faced Hortensia Slukstrup and the sadistic Vladimir Chernykrov, whose blood status was barely enough to permit him to be in Durmstrang, and he had no illusions over how he would be viewed by the pure blood Russians. Eve added "It was a shock having them inside the castle. I doubt that Professor Snape would have permitted it!"

"It was a calculated risk the Head took," said Zyrillis, "before you criticise her. Divination had determined pretty much what was going to happen, and leaving them outside had a most uncertain outcome. Your tea and card results were all part of what persuaded the head to use a ritual to increase divination knowledge, Cherrytree and it was determined that getting them inside, knowing they were coming, and keeping Marauders concealed would have the best outcome. There was a significant chance of accidental death caused by keeping them out" he added. "Zlatko put me in a trance to see if I could do the true seer thing" he grimaced "And I have to say, I'm glad I'm not a seer naturally. It's not very comfortable. I could see paths laid out."

"I'm not sure if I'm envious or glad it wasn't me" said Eve, honestly.

"I'm a little equivocal about it myself" said Zyrillis "But Zlatko figured I was the best subject so I'm glad I was able to help out. And frankly, Cherrytree, if you hadn't kicked up a fuss about losing one of your subjects, I doubt if the Kaiserin would have actually bothered with Divination so soon, so actually, thank you for being in the right place at the right time and making sure we could win. Without the foreknowledge, people would have died. And as a member of the duelling team, I might well have been one of them" he added.

Eve shuddered.

"Well, it wasn't any virtue of mine" she said "But I'm glad if I was an instrument of fate in this case. I reckon the brats are going to have a few nightmares over it but that's got to be better than whatever that creep was planning. What happened to him? I didn't see him with those carted away."

Axel grinned.

"Oh, Zlatko got creative in cursing him" he said. "He's now the only slave elf in the kitchens."

Eve shuddered.

She had learned to be glad of Marauders but the older ones could be terribly implacable when they put their minds to it!

oOoOo

Valda Schutzstab had been sleeping badly and her class work had been poor; and though the staff had noticed, those who were more likely to do something about it rather than merely sighing over lazy little girls had, on the whole, been a trifle pre-occupied with the expected attack.

It was Agalisse Schreiber who brought the matter up in the staffroom.

"Anyone know if the Schutztab child had anything happen to her over Yule? Her work has been excruciatingly bad all this term – and it shows up the more with the other children on the whole dropping to her level over this upset."

"But yes, I too have noticed her less attentive" said Nannerl Schwefel.

"And she has performed badly for me also though she showed much promise as an arithmancer" said Katarina Nachtigall. "I asked her about it before all this business and she more or less told me to mind my own business in as blunt a way as the silly chit thought she could get away with."

"The brat has no manners and is a nasty little blood snob" said Cacilia "I can't say I've noticed but then there isn't a lot direr you can get than dire, especially as she makes it clear she only intends to do enough in my classes to avoid being given detention. She doesn't like me any more than I like her as she considers potioneering beneath a pure blood and didn't like me telling her about how she owes a life-debt to Adelard Löenzahn and Zlatka Asimova and for pointing out that risking the lives of the castle elves was something to be taken seriously. She is terribly bourgeois."

"Most of the rest of us are fairly bourgeois, Cacilia my dear" said Agalisse Schreiber "Or we shouldn't be teaching."

"It wasn't the birth I was condemning so much as the traditional attitude; I never meant to be rude!" said Cacilia reddening. "The only teacher who really was bourgeois was Helois Fabeln."

"Oh HER" said Agalisse "I was not calling you to book for rudeness, my dear, just pointing out a sad fact. Durmstrang takes the highest in society but most of its number is made up of those hoping to be a part of the highest. And by the way, I think you've maybe hit on the reason for the silly chit's apathy."

"Ah" said Cacilia "Owing a life debt?"

"It's a bit more subtle than that" said Agalisse "Owing a life debt will not of itself cause problems unless the recipient tries to avoid an opportunity that presents itself to repay it. The problems are caused when either party refuses to accept that it exists – especially the person who does the owing. Do Adelard and Zlatka acknowledge it?"

"Zlatka found a get-out clause" laughed Cacilia "Trust a Marauder! Well if the silly child continues to make herself ill over it one of us is going to have to step in – Katarina, as she is actually good at your subject, could you?"

"Certainly" said Katarina. "My family owes several life debts to the Snapes, of sorts, though that was a more complex thing and it is because we choose to take the debt to that level that we will hit the ground running if Severus asks it."

"It wouldn't count anyway – they are Marauders" said Cacilia. "Like Vehmgerichten they pledge their lives to save others so it comes under the clause of 'except those who might be so expected' clause."

"Yes" said Agalisse "Because it doesn't count for anyone who is a close friend or family member or any adult in authority over a child, or those who swear to protect, because they are people who might be expected to save such a life even at risk to their own. It only counts when someone risks their life for another when they might not be expected to do so. And Adelard isn't even a prefect."

"Though I thought it was Zlatka who dived in?" said Attila. "Does that then count?"

"It's like chanting, partly in intent" said Cacilia "Isn't that right, Agalisse? And he was preparing himself to do so in his usual ponderous way when Zlatka acted Marauder-like without thinking twice."

"Yes" said Agalisse "And I suspect made stronger for Zlatka shuffling out of her part. Well we shall keep an eye on the situation."

oOoOo

Meanwhile Valda was wondering how much there really was in this life debt business; and took herself to the library to find out.

The definition Adelard and Zlatka had found which permitted Marauders an out was what she found; and that the matter was magically binding; and that acknowledging the debt was enough to help one feel better if bad dreams were causing difficulties.

The idea, however, of having to tender to Adelard the apology he had demanded as well as to acknowledge a debt was more than the silly child felt ready to do; and she stubbornly set her face against it. After all it was not Adelard who had gone into the water, and Zlatka had disclaimed the debt. Valda had no idea that Adelard had been about to leap into the icy water, poor swimmer though he was, before Zlatka had done so.

She decided that the bad dreams were just a matter of feeling unwell because of growing and threw the book on the floor, which act of pique greatly irritated the elves who were responsible now for cleaning the library.

oOoOo

Valda's silliness was of no moment to any group of Marauders who knew you could only help those people who wanted to be helped; and all the younger groups were considering that defeating the Russians called for a celebration that was along the lines of a really good jape.

The Jade Fag Marauders, who had been asked by Ritty to stop the noxious effects of his slave's exploding pustules had proceeded to work out and counter Desolina's clever chanting, and the older girl had risen considerably in their estimation both for her skill and in her ability to break out in quite childish mischief when pushed hard enough. They stopped worrying about her surviving teaching at Beauxbatons and told her so. Desolina impressed them further by laughing, and then handing out two fingered cuffs all round.

The Jade Fag Marauders' idea of a good jape was to ritually change all the school desks to be on fowl's legs instead of ordinary legs, with Baba Yaga in mind; which transformation caused some consternation but no real disruption as the desks appeared to be as sturdy as ever and the same height, and as they had only cursed those in the detention room to wander around randomly most desks were left like it.

Attila sorted out all but one of the desks in the detention room, one having escaped and gone feral. It would occasionally pose as an inanimate desk in other classrooms to cause some disruption but Attila shrugged. Such things were to be expected in magical schools. He left the feral desk on fowl's legs to its own devices.

The Musical Marauders had an equally Russian idea, but having declared that enchanting suits of armour was passé they turned their fertile imaginations to letting the school know that Aglaia Hallow had been heard to support the ideals of the Russian invaders and had been ready to rat up free elves to get them killed. This was accomplished by arranging that whenever Aglaia opened her mouth to speak she vented forth instead the Song of the Volga Boatmen; although in the version they cursed her with it was more a Song of the Vulgar Boatmen proceeding 'Yo heave [fart]' in its chorus, and the entire verse played with burps.

They were called upon by Agata to own up, and were told to unjinx Aglaia as her eructatious forms of communication were disrupting the staff who were attempting to teach her.

"I'm sorry, Headmistress, and my apologies to Fraulein Von Freyer, Fraulein Schreiber, Fraulein Scwefel and Fraulein Nactigall who teach her" said Sigismund, standing "But we would all rather be flogged than take a jinx off a girl whose speech was going to have the castle elves murdered by those Russian gits and who might too have ratted up others of our fellows. Respectfully, we refuse" he added.

Agata's eyes glittered.

"Is this so?" she said.

Eve Cherrytree stood.

"I heard her say, in English, 'Oh! But that stupid Hungarian bitch has been freeing some of the elves, the good Russian will perhaps have trouble with them, I must warn him!'. She was, you understand, speaking to herself" said Eve.

Agata looked at her a long moment; she knew Eve's reason for expulsion from Prince Peak.

"Cherrytree is word perfect" said Axel, standing "And I legilimensed Hallow and found that she wanted to have the free elves killed because some of them have given their opinion of her."

"I see" said Agata "DO try to stop that flow of wind, Fraulein Hallow" she added as Aglaia tried to say that elves should not be allowed to have opinions and ought to be killed for doing so. "Well in that case I think the perpetrators of the jinx should write out the whole song five times for me, and too write up how to dejinx the girl so that her parents can pay to have it done. She will be leaving school forthwith under expulsion so the school will be inconvenienced no longer, so there is no need of punishment for causing the staff a few minor problems."

The Musical Marauders grinned.

They would undertake that imposition cheerfully; and would write out the way to unjinx Aglaia using the most obscure terms they could come up with, involving much arithmancy and referring to Finnish naming magic in passing only without explaining how to use it. Any good curse breaker would be glad to undertake a bit of library work for the joy of learning more. And if he didn't, well such a curse breaker wasn't worth his salt.

The Defending Marauders were filled with envy and awe at the japes of both of their elders and were almost despairing over finding anything to make such an impact. They turned to Russian folk tales but found them bare of inspiration once the best idea of putting desks on fowl's legs had been taken.

Library work however came to their rescue, and they enlisted the aid of the castle elves who solemnly served boiled eggs for breakfast, covered in the illusion of being jewelled Fabergé eggs, Ritty making the announcement that for pure blood Russian witches and wizards, the hens were required to lay jewelled eggs like these.

Once the body of the school had discovered that the eggs were ordinary and edible coddled eggs by cautiously investigating, the jape was voted one of the more decorative ones to originate from Marauders and was not held against them.

oOoOo

The next excitement was to be the arrival of a new girl in the fourth.

As Agata said to the staff with a sigh it seemed that Durmstrang was fated to take expulsions from other schools in the fourth; but as Eve Cherrytree seemed to have settled down well enough it would be unfair to expect some precious French poppet to go to the Russian school.

"What has she done to be expelled?" asked Panayot Panov.

Agata grimaced.

"Wand burned filthy words on the muggleborn, part goblins and a child she designated a blood traitor for standing up to her" she said.

"Must we have her?" asked Agalisse. "Is she not the essence of what we were trying to get rid of with ODESSA?"

"Yes," said Agata, "but we have a whole different overall attitude now, and it is to be hoped that she might improve with a, er, rougher justice. Apparently the English chanter, Darryl Zabini, who has been a ward of Severus Snape, took her parents' assertion that might made right at their word and did much as our own Zlatko did to our own pet supremacist and now the girl has a house elf for a father. Apparently the mother will be glad to get rid of the little monster for a while as she appears moderately fond of her husband, and the brat has been ordering him to hurt himself for not succeeding in getting Zabini and Madam Maxime punished for catching her out at her filthy mischief, and causing her to be expelled. Russia isn't the only place with supremacists; France has is own trouble in the person of one Achille Villeneuve, late of Hogwarts and reckoned, er, unequal to deal with any greater threat than a little girl of twelve by those who know him; but as a symbol he's a bit more dangerous."

"Yes, we've been hiding clues to tie him up in fruitless endeavour all over muggle museums in Berlin" said Cacilia. "It's a scheme cooked up by Mimi Snape's – who's engaged to this Darryl Zabini – group of Marauders, and small Lilith Snape too, and with input from others. They reckoned that refugees from Odessa might be flocking to his banner too."

"I've heard rumours suggesting confirmation of that" said Agata grimly. "And as I understand it, this girl's older brothers belong to this New Sun thing. I managed to get her mother to be quite forthcoming; they took their father's plight to this Achille Villeneuve who was busy pooh-poohing the possibility of turning anyone into an elf until they mentioned Zabini's name. I recommended Madame Labellette to go to Severus Snape; he'll charge an arm and a leg but he'll probably do it. Unless his ex ward has asked him not to. She's vacillating at the moment but she'll go. If we didn't have Marauders in that year I'd think twice about this girl, but it's to be hoped that the Durmstrang experience might make a better girl of her, for if she once goes to Russia she'll be an enemy and we might assume Aglaia Hallow is already likely to be going there."

"Yes, but she's not exactly as well trained as the English generally are, having got by, and needing no more than just getting by, through the ODESSA years and not bothering to lift her game since" said Cacilia. "She's no great loss to us or gain to them, any more than I suspect this French child will be. Those self willed enough to want to be supremacist are usually sufficiently self willed too not to want to do more than as much work as they feel like. It takes an academic to be an efficient dark wizard."

"Wherein Voldemort caused so much trouble" rumbled Attila. "Fortunately he was still content to take some short cuts. Well the Jade Fag Marauders ought to give her short shrift if she causes trouble."

oOoOo

Antoinette Labelette surveyed the rest of the form haughtily.

"I am pure blooded" she declared. "I should like to know who else shares that distinction so I may know who I am likely to want to know."

"I too am pure blooded" said Kunegunda Sternkessel. "Few of the rest are and those that are have low ideas."

"You know, they might just as well contaminate each other as be a pain to the rest of us" said Leva, who was also pure blooded and saw no reason to mention this.

"Oh dear, do you actually let the blood taints speak?" asked Antoinette.

Kunegunda paled.

"Levedeva is a pure blooded aristocrat" she said shortly. "She may be a blood traitor, but you don't want to mess with her or the bunch she runs with. They'll jinx you."

"Oh?" said Antoinette. "I knew how to deal with blood traitors in Beauxbatons; you won't touch me, blood traitor or I'll burn what you are onto your chest."

"Goodness, little Frog, and where is your army to help you?" said Leva, amused. "Because I don't even need the backup of my friends to deal with a fat little fool like you."

Antoinette was not fat; but fresh air and exercise were not friends of hers and she was a trifle flabby and liked to refer to her rounded white limbs as 'delicately soft' rather than the unkinder words 'pastily plump'. She would have been considered a beauty by the painter Rubens, but this was not the idea of beauty to the hard, toned members of the ECC.

Antoinette turned her wand on Leva, using the spell she had devised to whip clothing away then screamed as without word or want Leva turned her new wand into a snake. She threw it from her in fear and loathing.

_**Ssss**__ come to me little one __**ssss**_ hissed Leva holding out her hand for the snake. "SUCH a fuss over a little snake… well come on, do your worst; or is it that you cannot cast wordlessly and wandlessly? No?"

"You – you're a parselmouth!" cried Lebellette in lively horror.

"Yes" said Leva. "And you are a filthy, racist, frog-eating putrescence, whose existence is an affront to me and whose presence contaminates the air I breathe. Your life is a detraction from the sum total of the greatness of mankind and your thoughts, if worthy of the term, creep turgidly from a pool of mental excreta and flow sluggishly to the point that your mouth emits sounds reminiscent of the gurgling of a bog. However I'm sure apart from that we'll get on just fine when I've finished with your wand."

Regretfully she turned the little snake back to being a wand, and started chanting. Sofie, Elfleda and Kjell stared for a moment, then laughed and added counterpoints.

Leva finished the chant and handed the wand back to Antoinette.

"You were pretending, you have done nothing!" said Antoinette. "You know nothing of this chanting, but nothing!"

"Well, wait and see what happens if you are so stupid as to try wand burning" shrugged Leva. "I warn you it's a bad idea."

Antoinette had never controlled her temper in her life; and wand burning was about the only offensive spell she had perfected. She shouted a short and ugly word, pointing her wand at Leva's forehead, and then screamed in pain.

"Warned you" said Leva.

Antoinette now sported the word she had used on her own forehead.

oOoOo

Leva explained to Agata Bacsó, when summoned, that as it happened she had put no words on the new girl's forehead and there were witnesses to prove this, but as the girl had confessed to putting unpleasant words on the bodies of blood traitors she, Leva, had taken steps to make the girl's wand reverse the spell of wand burning onto its caster.

Agata blinked.

"Leva, that's post ZH study!" she said.

Leva dropped a little curtsey.

"Oh yes, Frau Bacsó, but I came across it in the library and I thought it might come in handy one day. I used chanting to make it easier and the others backed me, and that's why they came along."

"We all would have done it first if we'd thought of it, Madam Bacsó" said Elfleda. "We don't approve of people who use wand burning; it causes cursed wounds, you know."

"Yes, I do know" said Agata grimly. "You should, however, have warned her, Leva."

"I did, ma'am" said Leva. "It's not my fault she's so retarded she couldn't pick up the crackle of energy as I chanted and decided that I was pretending to do something, nor that she failed to understand the meaning of the Latin that I used. I did think that even Beauxbatons teaches Ancient Runes, and they now teach chanting also I think."

"They do" said Agata. "Well I shall have Professor Potishev ascertain the wand that caused the damage in the presence of Fraulein Labelette and see what she has to say then. As you have not performed this action, you cannot be expected to undo it; so the girl will have to uncurse herself."

"Bet she can't" muttered Sofie.

As Agata also had no great faith in the girl to heal her own cursed wounds she decided to have a moment of diplomatic deafness.

oOoOo

Once it had been demonstrated whose wand had caused the cursed wound Antoinette was made well aware that she had been found out; and that moreover Frau Bacsó had asked Madam Maxime the reason for the girl's expulsion and had offered to give the girl a second chance to make good.

"Which chance you appear to be attempting to squander from the first moment!" said Agata, coldly. "Perhaps you did not feel much in the way of consequence from the less well born that you have hitherto victimised but has it not occurred to you in a spirit of self preservation that a Grafin's family might not actually cause a wealthy but essentially bourgeois family some trouble?"

"What is a Grafin?" asked Antoinette.

"You would say 'Comtesse'" said Agata. "You are in many cases associating with your betters; Beauxbatons welcomes those for whom mere wealth is a sufficient recommendation since the effete aristocrats seem to need nannies and tutors to wipe their noses for them. In the Germanic sphere it is considered proper for aristocrats to give their children the chance to grow up and toughen up by participating in the rough and tumble of school. Had you placed on the forehead of the Grafin Leva Levadeva such a word as you have placed on your own – and I am horrified to have a little girl before me who is so low that she knows such words" added Agata sententiously and, it might be said somewhat mendaciously "– then it is certain that Fraulein Levadeva's father would have made sure that he extracted the full measure of the loss of his daughter's marital chances from your family. I should think it would run well into the tens of thousands of galleons in damages, and likely the invocation of the old law of blood-debt from you as well. Herr Zabini might have invoked it to make your father – yes, I know about that as well – belong to the girl you hurt worst. Turning him into an elf is a bit of a short cut; the English are always so hasty" added Agata, meaning to repeat this conversation to Severus to take a point in their undeclared friendly rivalry.

"But – but he would not want to acknowledge a daughter who is a blood-traitor, surely, if he is a Count!" cried Antoinette.

"You are a little fool" said Agata "Graf Lev Levedev is one of the foremost fighters for equality in the German sphere; he takes an interest in setting up schools for goblins and muggleborn in the Ukraine, and is working to that end with the Order of the Dragon."

It had been an interesting conversation with Severus, in which he had told her that this Ukrainian organisation were pure academics who had a chance of becoming allies after having found that the Sons of Zirnitra had used them; and Agata had written to Graf Levedev to ask him to keep his ear to the ground concerning them.

"Well I don't know anything about foreigners" said Antoinette sulkily. The idea of her family being subject to a law suit frightened her as very little else might.

"Here, you are the foreigner" said Agata. "Very well; you have been stupid. I hope you may learn the consequences of your stupidity and learn not to be such a nasty vicious little girl and outgrow the manners of whatever Paris slum you must have grown up in before your family acquired their wealth in whatever dubious circumstances such uncultured types must have acquired it. Your family's criminal tendencies do not concern me unless you attempt to behave in a criminal fashion here."

"But it is inherited wealth!" cried Antoinette.

Agata sneered, quite deliberately. Tactics of treating the girl as something low actually seemed to be reaching her.

"Well you would say so I suppose; your manner shows the truth though" she said. "As it was your wand that caused the damage, you may undo that for yourself; and for an unwarranted attack on another child you may bend over the desk and I shall give you eight strokes of the cane."

Antoinette stared.

"No-one has EVER struck me!" she cried.

"Perhaps that is why you are such a disgusting little object" said Agata.

"But – do you not think it harsh enough that I must wear such a word?" gasped Antoinette.

"You chose the word" said Agata implacably. "And as your wand put it there, any competent witch should be able to remove a curse she has herself laid. Now bend over before I make you; goodness knows, you've enough padding on your rump to cushion it."

Antoinette sobbed loudly through the caning, humiliated as well as in pain.

She had thought it would be wonderful at Durmstrang where she and other pure bloods would lord it over all the others! Like Eve Cherrytree she was shocked to find that there were those who might look down on her – and that there would be those even her own age who might be so contemptuous of her best magical efforts and best her!


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

The celebration of Valentine's Day was a custom that had spread from France and England, though some diehards still used the Roman name of Lupercalia. Zlatka had helped Zlatko organise two parties, one for the little ones and one for those of the fourth and above, and it may be said that the Blooded of the fourth and above volunteered as a body to help organise the children's party on the grounds that it would be more fun, and moreover, as Kjell said virtuously, to prevent them from getting up to the sorts of things the Jade Fag Marauders had managed with view-o-sneaks the previous year.

As Adelard had lightened up considerably since caught out in illicit fumblings, Zlatko cuffed them all on general principles. It had been the only piece of silliness, and the idea Zhanargul had had of running a party had probably been largely responsible for keeping it mostly trouble free. Besides, Zlatko had really, as head boy, to be in charge of the older ones' party, and he firmly co-opted his girlfriends into this as well, leaving Zlatka to deputise with the younger ones.

The elves had been busy baking gingerbread hearts, surrounded by piped icing and with appropriate mottos piped onto the faces of the hearts. Zlatko had spoken to the elves and though the mottos on the hearts for the older ones might not be traditional nor particularly romantic, Zlatko felt it more appropriate to have such stern reminders as 'contraceptives should be used on every conceivable occasion' and 'if you can't be good, be careful'.

His sister sighed and said you could always trust Zlatko to manage to be snide.

It took Axel to put about the rumour that the erstwhile Arkadi Michaelovitch – very few people knew that he was one and the same person as the elf Kaddi – was available to be hired for sexual favours to senior girls. As the reaction was generally one of disgust and the odd comment that Aglaia might have been a taker but other people had standards it fell a little flat, but as the rumour and the reaction to it came to the ears of Kaddi and outraged him, Axel considered it a wind-up that had not entirely failed.

The younger ones had a variety of sticky eats which included gingerbread hearts without mottoes and Simone Fabrier almost got a sharp answer from Daffodil when she sighed about how romantic this time of year was, or as Daffodil described it to the others of her ilk 'mooing like a graphorn on heat'. They also played games in which they drew a card with a number on it and the legend either 'male' or 'female' which was not necessarily in accordance with the actual gender of the player. Finding the other gendered counterpart to their number, each pair had to run a race after having dressed in outrageous national costume appropriate to their temporary gender, collecting each piece of clothing one at a time, and when fully dressed must dance holding hands to the other end of the hall where the 'male' was to feed the 'female' a gingerbread heart with a spoon. As part of the costume involved gloves this was not as easy as it sounded and there was a lot of giggling and some choking on crumbs from the forcefed 'females'.

They cooled off after this with quiet games like consequences, and 'animal, vegetable, mineral, magical' and Ilarion had the entire gathering completely foxed with his entry that was 'mineral and magical with vegetable connections' which turned out to be one of the suits of armour enchanted to sing 'the holly and the ivy'.

Zlatko saved his favourite consequence sheet, which was 'Agata Bacsó met Professor Snape at a ruined castle. She said "I have been making pickled cabbage" and he said "What colour knickers are you wearing?" and the consequence was they turned into werewolves.' The writing of a story by, as it were, committee, each person writing each part in order, female name, male name, place of meeting, a comment from each and then the consequence, each folding the strip of paper over what they wrote before passing it round the circle for the next part could lead to some hilarious pairings and incongruous occurrences.

The seniors also played consequences, which had a lot more innuendo in the comments and led to 'Katti Krächzen met Professor Nagy in Berlin. She said 'Hello big boy' and he said 'You have a lot there' and the consequence was they played Quidditch.'

They also played 'I love my love with an A'. Some players made up names to go with the letter they were assigned, others made it a bold play for attention. Lothar Wiesel, delighted to be 'D' declared

"I love my love with a D; I love her because she is diligent, I hate her because she is distant. I feed her damson jam and donuts. Her name is Diliana and she lives in Durmstrang."

Diliana Zhivkova blushed and scowled. Having a game turned into something personal embarrassed her. Eve actually managed to surpass herself by hastily following that piece of cheek by declaring that she loved her love with an 'E' because he was entertaining, hated him because he was excessive, fed him on eggs and emetic – this earned a howl of laughter – and that his name was Ethelred the Ever-Ready and he lived in England.

"Actually he's dead in England and has been for centuries" said Yorick Thorwaldson "But if famous wizards from chocolate frog cards are available it'll make life easier."

Zlatko ruled hastily that dead wizards and witches from chocolate frog cards were available; perhaps the choice of this game was not such a good one. However, Diliana was looking gratefully at Eve, so perhaps now the English girl was growing up she might make a friend there.

They ended the evening making toffee and telling ghost stories.

None of the seniors tried sneaking off for illicit encounters, and that had to be a success.

oOoOo

The staff had been complaining off and on about the turgid work from the fourth year; their standards were, with the exception of the Jade Fag Marauders and sundry of their hangers on, like Kyril Payutinin, Arkadi Rasputin and Herwald Langbessen, very low indeed.

Agata gave them the day round to recover from their party; and then had the entire of the fourth in her office. It was a tight squeeze. She regarded them all coldly.

"With notable exceptions I am most disappointed in this whole year" she said. "The end of term exams before Yule had some of the most disgraceful set of marks it has ever been my displeasure to see; and I would have hoped that this embarrassing state of affairs would have made you pull up your games. The seven of you who gained E average and above in your Yule exams know who you are and I don't have any worries about you, but I do regard it as your duty to help to pull up the marks of the others. I have to say that as things stand, out of a class of forty seven, only seven would be likely to pass the ZAP, which is the level at which you should be in this year. This means that the majority of you, after four years of schooling, are performing below the levels achieved over one year last year by the goblins, part goblins, and humans ineligible for Durmstrang at the school Nefrita Von Strang set up. I would hope that you would be ashamed – not because I consider your blood status likely to make you perform any better, but because you all come from privileged backgrounds and have been prepared for schooling from your earliest years in addition to having had ALMOST FOUR YEARS at school. If the standard of work from this form does not improve, only the seven who have done well will move into the fifth next year to take ZP's, and they may well be joined by the more talented in the current third who are capable of pulling ahead to make room for the other forty potato heads in this class. Though of course Fraulein Labellette may have some excuse in being French" she added.

Antoinette Labellette flushed angrily. It has to be said that she had not been a model scholar even in Beauxbatons and found the work here hard. The only class in which she shone was arithmancy but having found that she had gone from class star to somewhere in the region of sixth – just above Sofie, who succeeded by sheer hard work – the silly girl had been slacking in a fit of pique.

"Short of jinxing them into balls, Frau Bacsó, how would you suggest we pull the silly creatures up to scratch?" asked Kjell politely.

"The means you use I will leave to you, so long as they do not descend to bullying" said Agata.

"Then will you loan us a prefect who has powers to deprive of treats and such?" asked Leva.

"No; but you have answered a question of how you might exert some leverage" said Agata.

Leva grinned. Those the elves respected would be able to ask to have goodwill withdrawn.

"Why should we have to obey them?" whined Antoinette.

"Because you don't want to have to stay down a year seems a good reason" said Elfleda. "Those of us with good grades will be going up anyway; it's merely that Frau Bacsó wants us to help her by helping you helpless bunch of idiots, and just because you have as much ability with a wand as those muggles designated 'sensitives' doesn't mean you can't learn the theory. If you don't buck up we'll feel we've let the head down; most of you are too turgid to care about that but actually we do. So we won't be best pleased with you. And by the way, shall we get rid of that word on her, you oiks? She's too feeble to do it herself and I find it offensive. Almost as offensive as the rest of her face."

"The addendum was uncalled for, Frauein Mondschein" said Agata.

Elfleda swept her a curtsey.

"My apologies, Frau Bacsó" she said.

The four went into a brief huddle, and sang the song from 'My Fair Lady' where Eliza complains about words. Antoinette yelled as her forehead pulled. She got no sympathy.

"And granted that depression might have made your studying poor" said Leva "Perhaps it will help; and if you don't buck up and buckle down you so will be being so ungrateful to us for rescuing you from the predicament you got yourself into."

Antoinette scowled.

"A 'thank you' might have been cultured" murmured Sofie. "What kind of boors then does Beauxbatons turn out?"

"Oh, the poor child cannot help coming from a low family, show her sympathy" said Agata.

This remark made Antoinette seethe even more than Sofie's insult to her erstwhile Alma Mater.

oOoOo

The seven ruthlessly studied over each day's lessons with their classmates – even if they had to be fetched by elf – in their common room each evening. Permission was sought – and granted – from prefects supervising prep periods to talk quietly to go round and sort the others out when the seven had finished their own work. Losing cakes and treats was a good incentive not to spurn the efforts of the more able pupils as was losing Quidditch practice on fine days. Threats to lampoon them and to tell the current third who was to be joining them helped too. Averages slowly crept up.

The fourth did not have time in their leisure periods to break out in the usual mischief to be found in this term, with its uncertain weather; which, as Agata said in the staff room, was an additional advantage. It was, after all, generally the middle school in which most mischief originated.

Zoltan's exploits in riding the feral desk on fowl's legs scarcely counted after all; and Zoltan cheerfully accepted punishment of half a dozen strokes from Fraulein Agellisse Schreiber's ruler for having inadvertently knocked her flying as his unorthodox steed bucked.

He had won the bet with Sigismund about how long he could stay on after all. And secretly Attila was delighted that his rather solemn second son was capable of such a feat.

Naturally the other musical marauders had to have a go. And Zoltan also produced a bunch of red roses from his wand by way of apology to Fraulein Schreiber as soon as he had written down the rollicking little tune that the bucking desk had set off in his head. He was not so accomplished a composer as Silvina Snape but when he did feel an urge to compose, he generally came up with jaunty and singable little tunes. The desk was most put out, and refused to move any further for several weeks, having parked itself in the middle of the Great Hall where it snapped at anyone who came close.

oOoOo

It was the first who produced the next sensation in the person of Valda Schutzstab, who came face to face with Adelard Löenzahn in the corridor, gave a queer little gasp and passed out.

Adelard snorted in irritation and swept the little girl up in his arms to take her to the hospital wing.

Everyone knew what the trouble was. Except perhaps Valda.

She came round and started sobbing. Adelard was sitting beside her.

"Look here, Valda" he said "All it will take is for you to acknowledge the matter; goodness knows, is that going to cause so much pain to you to recognise that you might have drowned without a bit of help? It's not as though the accidental magical contract requires you to repay it; only to have the intent to pay it if it becomes possible. And I doubt I'm going to be in a situation where you ever WILL have to repay it. I leave at the end of this year so I shan't even be entering the Triwizard next year, even if I was likely to be picked as champion which I'm not. And I'm destined for the ministry which isn't world shatteringly dangerous now ODESSA are gone" he added in rather ponderous humour. "I'd ask you to repay it by looking out for my oldest niece but I've added it up on my fingers as I'm no arithmancer, and she won't come in until you've left school some two years. But you know, when I've left I can keep in touch and you can feel that you are keeping an eye on me. I should think that ought to satisfy it. And look here kiddy! You look pretty terrible and I shan't ask you to apologise for being so rude to me. I should think you were in shock" he added kindly.

Valda burst into tears.

"It's not FAIR being tied to a curse!" she howled.

Adelard knew what Zlatko would expect of him; the last year had done wonders for him, and he had learned a lot about why the fey were dangerous, and why those of pure blood who let their blood status do their thinking for them were actually rather limited.

"Being tied to a curse isn't very fair, is it?" said Adelard. "But then, kiddy, there are worse curses. I know you resent me for saving you, or rather for being tied to you because of it; but at least you don't have to punish yourself by banging your head against the floor, or burning yourself for resenting me."

She stared.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Has Professor Gierek mentioned the Fey to you in Dark Arts?" asked Adelard. She nodded and he went on, "A long time ago, they discovered that they could punish a clan who did not want to do their bidding and at the same time gain power; and too, make alliances with humans. All with one act – when they cursed the rebel clan into a tiny and foolish looking form, enslaved them to certain families, and tied a compulsion to both obey and to punish themselves if they even thought rebellious thoughts. And every time they hurt themselves, the Fey fed on that pain, humiliation, suppressed anger and misery. And it made them grow strong, chuckling to themselves because in gifting their cousins to humans they were giving themselves a source of power with which one day they might overthrow and enslave humans too."

Valda stared aghast.

"That's awful!" she said.

Adelard wisely decided not to ask which part was awful; but to nod agreement.

"Yes; slavery is a terrible blight" he said gravely. "It weakens anyone who owns slaves and makes them effete as well as destroying the dignity of those enslaved. And with such a curse enslaving the spirit it is even worse. This was why some of the top chanters in the world lifted the curse from House Elves to stop them punishing themselves. The howls of anguish from the High Fey had, I understand, to be heard to be believed. It's one reason we have a stiff fey exclusion line, as Durmstrang was used as the centre. And why the Head has encouraged those elves with the courage to think for themselves to be free – liveried – and put their extraordinary powers at our disposal willingly and happily for pay. The iniquities of the Russians were enough to show those who were not free that they should place their loyalties where they chose, not let them be taken by right of conquest. Yes, my child" he added as her eyes widened "When that Russian fellow, whose name I can't even be bothered to remember, was technically in charge by right of conquest, he automatically could inherit the loyalty of the elves and could have ordered them to kill you first year hostages – and they would have had to obey, even though it would destroy their sanity. Free people who can make their own choices give loyalty so much more deeply. Which is why I want you to know that a nominal acceptance of this debt is all that is needed because I don't really want you to be constrained by the slavery of a magical bond to give me aid."

Valda was looking very thoughtful.

"I – I am glad you saved my life" she said. "I – I could fag for you?"

"That would probably help" said Adelard gravely. "I won't be very demanding you know. I never picked a fag as I prefer to shift for myself. But you may do homework in my study and I'll try to give you pointers if you need help, which is what a fellow is supposed to do for a fag. And next term as the exams approach, I'll be glad to be plied with coffee a lot" he smiled austerely.

Valda nodded.

"All right" she said. "Will you tell me more about these Fey? And at Easter I will free our elves so they aren't helping them!"

"Oh, they aren't helping them now the self-punishing curse is broken" said Adelard. "And instead of freeing them – which might make them think you did not value them – you should teach them that free servants can serve better than bound slaves so they learn to want to be free."

"Do you think so?" said Valda, dubiously. "Papa does not like it that they seem less subservient."

Adelard bit off his first thought that her papa was a fool and probably a nasty one.

"I expect he does not know that the fey had set up the self punishment curse as a trap" he said. "Perhaps it would be better to teach your elves to be free and to have self respect by treating them with respect, saying please and thank you – though of course the well born would do so to their elves in any case" he added "And not say anything yet to your papa. Perhaps I can meet him when I have left school and explain things to him" he said in sudden inspiration.

Valda nodded again.

"He is terribly hard to explain things too, and does not listen to children" she said "And he scares me" she added in a rush.

"Poor kiddy" said Adelard. Well perhaps he would marry her; a husband who meant kindly by her would be better than some of the less fortuitous loveless arranged marriages he head heard of – his own parents marriage was a cold affair, though at least civil, but he had heard of worse. And a pure blood German wizard of impeccable line and some aristocratic connections would not be likely to be turned down. Giving him an heir would return life for life – though that was being a little premature. Adelard had no doubts of his ability to fascinate and please the girl when she was of nubile age. And the poor kid would probably blossom to have kindness shown to her. His parents were both good to him in an offhand way and he was grateful to know that were at least fond of him, although he was, as it were, the spare, his brother being the heir. This child's father was doubtless one of those bullies so often blustered and dominated in their household, and the child's mother was probably either cowed or fought with her husband.

"You don't think it WRONG to dislike my father?" asked Valda.

"Not under the circumstances" said Adelard. "What about your mother?"

"I never knew her" said Valda "She died when I was born. I have a rotten goblin nanny who tells me that papa will remarry and then I will have a half brother and I will be nothing and will be married off."

"Oh how unkind!" said Adelard. "Some nannies can be unkind – I think it is when they are afraid they will lose their position when their charge gets big and they lash out with unkind words. Of course if you had a human nanny she might have been hoping to be your stepmother and to have children who were thought better of than you by your father. It's not because she's a goblin you know; they come in good, bad and indifferent like everyone. I've met a number" he added. "Judging people by race is very foolish; hasty people who are too enslaved by their narrow thoughts do that. Like your father" he put in cunningly. What her father thought might be enough to make her think the opposite. Adelard had learned a lot about goblins from his brother, whose sister-in-law had run away to marry a goblin, and Helmut Löenzahn had declared this Gennic to be a good man. With the actions and beliefs of Marauders too he had discussed the matter with his father, a fair minded man, and they had been to goblin areas to see for themselves. Adelard was considering working in the goblin office.

"Well, I don't know" said Valda.

It was a start; and Adelard left her to sleep it off, heaving a sigh of relief that she was no longer a burden on his conscience in acknowledging the whole business, and that she might be young enough to have her sillier ideas trained out of her.

oOoOo

Adelard consulted Zlatko over the matter.

"I say, old boy, you did rather a good job there" said Zlatko. Adelard glanced at him sharply to see if this was irony; but Zlatko was nodding thoughtfully.

"You think I did it well enough?" asked Adelard.

"Actually, old boy, since you have more patience than I have, and are a sufficient stuffed robe to present a rather efficient lecture rather than shaking the brat, you did it better than I could have" said Zlatko.

Adelard relaxed.

"I know where I am when you're being insulting" he said. Zlatko chuckled.

"I had to find something snide to say because I find myself so blown away by your brilliant handling of the child that I'm jealous and it's not an attractive trait" he said.

"I suppose your main saving grace is your devastating honesty" said Adelard. "What next though?"

"Let the child fag for you; chat to her; and I'll sic the marauders in her year onto helping her" said Zlatko. "Peer aid and opinion as well as a big boy unbending to her ought to do the trick. You might write to your father to find out about this precious father of hers; he sounds a tick."

Adelard nodded.

"Good thinking" he said.

"Only kind I do" said Zlatko.

"Well, let's leave that for now…" Adelard was learning to tease ponderously too. "And a good idea about the marauders. Talented bunch."

"Not bad" said Zlatko.

oOoOo

After Zlatko's instructions, the Defending Marauders collected the sundries of their set; Renate, Simone, Ulla-Brit, Shazia, Waldemar Zdun and Laurenz Langstab and explained that they were going to be decent to Valda.

"But why?" asked Simone "She stands against all you believe in and she is bad tempered and nasty!"

"Yes, but the poor kid has been given some silly things to believe and needs to be shown how nice it is to have friends when she starts learning that she has been fooled with lies all her life" said Daffodil. "I don't suppose she's ever likely to run with our set but hey, we can give her a break and help her settle in!"

Simone was jealous, but knew better than to make an issue of it. She would be kind to Valda because Daffodil wanted it, but she would be also aloof and not court the girl's friendship!

Marlene was forthright when Valda was released from the care of the school nurse though she managed to be tactful enough in concealing that the group had been asked to help her.

"Look here, Schutzstab, we're the world's best at overhearing things and we get the idea that you haven't always been told truth; and we guess you've been given things, not time or love. So we don't know how much we might like you in the future, but we thought we'd like you to know that we're here if you want to know anything and to help you with prep and knock around with you. You know."

Valda knew. The jolly group had roused the envy of the solitary, unhappy child, unsure as an only child how to interact with others. Part of her wanted to thrust them away in perversity; they had not always been very nice to her earlier.

And part of her craved to belong. It was not like her father said, where the pure blooded got to be the class leaders and impose their will on others, the rules had changed.

"I think my father has told me a pack of lies" she blurted out. "Löenzahn told me that elves have been cursed to entrap humans into hurting them to make the fey powerful, and that goblins aren't all filthy and rude and unkind, though my goblin nurse is pretty unkind."

They pumped her about it; and even Simone managed to be sorry for her.

"I 'spect your papa was hardened by the Durmstrang experience when ODESSA were still going strong" opined Nedelya. "I should think it would be hard for him to learn now" she added thoughtfully.

"He might if he loves his daughter enough" said Xanthos dubiously.

Valda gave a short bark of mirthless laughter.

"I don't think I'm more than a possession" she said "And if he DID remarry and have a son, I would be nothing!"

"Well then we'd just have to take it in turns to have you for the hols to give you a chance to have happy holidays" said Ilarion, practically. "You know, your nurse might not be being unkind, just awfully clumsy at warning you about what she's afraid might happen. People who are nannies aren't always very clever you know!"

Valda stared.

"Do – do you really think she knows something I don't?" she asked.

Ilarion shrugged.

"Dunno; she might just be guessing but still mean nothing but good. Not knowing her, can't say. But I think I'd ask her if I was you if she DOES know something you don't. And like I said, if it happens we'll rally round."

"Why?" asked Valda. "What advantage does it bring you?"

"Well, y'know, lots of people do things without looking for an advantage!" said Ilarion. "Like Adelard being ready to dive in to rescue a little girl. He might have been dead relieved Zlatka did it, but hey, he would have done! Because helping other people actually makes the world go round because it's made of love and friendship and acts of love to people you don't know well is part of the old magic that makes us human – or goblin, or elf, what's the word I want you oiks?"

"Sentient" said Daffodil. "What you aren't. What he's saying is that passing on friendly acts without thinking about it shows we're better than beasts. And partly we'd do it in profound gratitude to the powers of the universe that it isn't us with a rotten dad."

"Tact" said Xanthos.

"Don't have any" said Daffodil.

"I don't care, he is a rotten papa" said Valda "And I wish you will teach me about things about – about being friends because I don't know how."

"Oh that's an EASY secret!" laughed Daffodil. "In order to have a friend you have first to BE a friend."

It may be said that this simple and profound truth struck home to Simone as well as Valda; and helped promote the tentative friendship that was growing between Simone and Renate.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Better weather brought a Quidditch fixture with the Beauvais Broomwonders; playing a French team was unusual but the fixture had been requested by the Broomwonders.

Agata Bacsó knew that they were embarrassed to ask Severus for a fixture as they were breaking in a new team member, the previous player having died in a death duel he had forced on Darryl Zabini and as Darryl Zabini was a protégé of Severus Snape, they felt that their presence in the Austrian school might be unwelcome. Agata was able to reassure them on that score – Severus would not blame them for the supremacist views of their erstwhile Seeker – but she was happy to give them a game as well. The Broomwonders were not in the same league as the Paris Puissance and the school might have a chance against them, especially with a new seeker.

It was only to be expected that at the pre-match refreshments, Antoinette Lebellette managed to importune the players to offer them condolences on the killing of their player and to offer the information that her brothers were members of the New Sun.

The Captain of the Broomwonders, one of their chasers, looked on her coldly and addressed her in rapid French. Agata was glad she had learned the language, and was not surprised to see Zlatko following the diatribe too.

"Little girl" said the captain "Our dead Seeker brought the beautiful game into disrepute because he was more interested in politics and his own revolting ideas than in Quidditch. We do not in any wise subscribe to his views. That you admit to having relatives supporting Achille Villeneuve does you no credit. (well said!) The only reason we have not signed a goblin seeker to protest our erstwhile team-mate's views is because the only adult Quidditch-playing goblin is the English Gorbrin Malfoy, who is in training to be an auror, a more profound career than that of a Quidditch player. We regret, but honour him. I suggest you persuade your brothers to leave the New Sun and seek in their hearts for less foolish ideals to follow. It has come to the attention of the formidable Professor Snape whose protégé was challenged to a death duel by our stupid one-time seeker, whose name we prefer not to even mention. Go away; you bore me. Concentrate on your lessons, not politics."

Antoinette went, shocked to the core. She had assumed that Alexandre Villepleine's views were common to his team. To be told so bluntly that this was not so was a shock. And being told to concentrate on her lessons was a reminder that Frau Professor Bacsó had not yet said that the work of the Fourth was enough for them to earn a reprieve from the threat of being held down a year!

oOoOo

The greater number of the school team were Bloodkin; and though they did not use the links, they did play with a closeness and teamwork that showed them to advantage. The chasers, Zlatka, Xanthe and Wencelada made a pretty showing with the neatness of their passes, including the difficult back passes; Xanthippe was athletic as keeper against those few quaffles Sigismundus and Gisela failed to prevent from being thrown, and Zlatko was on form with a number of broomnastics that were what his twin described as pure narcissism.

The school won the encounter by a reasonable margin, largely because Zlatko was busy showing off what a seeker's job really was and caught the snitch by swinging round the broom to hang beneath it from the calves, grabbing the snitch with one hand and continuing the swing, his momentum uninterrupted by the snitch catch to bring him back up to the right side of the broom.

"Posy git" said Xanthe, cheerfully.

"It's why you love me" said Zlatko.

Xanthe could not really argue with that.

Zlatko was ready to chat to the captain after the match to ask him how extensive was the New Sun, as the main trouble they had been having in Germany with supremacists was with Russians.

The captain gave a Gallic shrug.

"Eh bien, these Villeneuves – one would say they were all squeak and no trousers save that there's some efficiency in the organisation. Perhaps you German types have lost one of the ODESSA members who has a hand up Achille Villeneuve's backside, hein?"

"D'accord, that seems quite likely" agreed Zlatko. "I was too young to be allowed to go to war against ODESSA so perhaps it was not mopped up as efficiently as I would have done!" and he winked, laughing.

The Frenchman laughed.

"Ça, c'est drôle!" he said. "We can be glad that with the egos of Achille and the leaders of these Sons of Zirnitra you speak of it is at least unlikely that they will join forces!"

"There is that" said Zlatko.

oOoOo

Easter was late this year; and a long term sometimes caused flagging spirits to break out in mischief. This year however the middle school, whence sprang most mischief, was occupied with other matters. The fourth were well occupied with trying not to achieve the humiliation of being relegated a year on the part of the majority, and being kept on track to that end by the determined handling of the Jade Fag Marauders and their cronies. The Marauders of the third were much taken up with the tending of their maze and the ruthless application of pattern magic and militant topiary. The Musical Marauders had also taken a hand when Freidrich Steiner, who had been largely quiescent until this term, had declared that the Russians were enemies and it behoved anyone loyal to Durmstrang to do over anyone with a Russian sounding name.

He was told forcefully that the only person behaving like the Russian supremacists was him; and that the Russians in the school were here to oppose what the marauders called the Russian School for Pure-snot Brats and could not be in any wise considered the enemy for opposing the people who had attacked. Put like that, Steiner had to sulkily give up his crusade, though the Musical Marauders told him that if he wanted to have a go at a Russian, Vladimir Chernykrov in the fifth was a git, not because he was pure blood but because he was just plumb nasty.

Steiner declined this suggestion; taking on a boy in the fifth who had a reputation for cruelty was not something he fancied doing and he thought the Marauders were having a laugh at his expense. In point of fact, if he HAD had a go at Chernykrov the Marauders would have given him more respect. Chernykrov was, fortunately, largely neutralised because of the Boggart curse, but he could still be nasty enough without going so far as to trip the curse set by Jade to curb his cruelty.

The rest of the second were decidedly turgid and without a leader of one kind or another were unlikely to cause trouble; so that section of the lower school was also no trouble. Only the first, irked by the dragging term, broke out in mischief, led by the Defending Marauders of course, and even Simone was in the thick of it, in a game that involved a form of counting coup on the feral desk on fowl's legs, in trying to sneak up on it and toss a ping-pong ball into the desk lid as it opened to try to bite, all without being bitten. The desk eventually got sick of the game and stopped sulking mutinously in the middle of the great hall, and started chasing its juvenile tormentors, spitting out ping-pong balls in a regular fusillade. The first fled, shrieking and giggling, and promptly earned a collective detention from Attila Nagy whom they almost knocked over in their headlong flight. Attila took in the situation at a glance and cast the tarantallegra curse on the errant desk to give himself the opportunity to lecture heedless brats on the inadvisability of knocking professors flying regardless of how many feral desks might be chasing them. The children listened, subdued, and wished that they dared to peek behind them at the irritated and dancing desk.

They retired outside to throw ping-pong balls at Gerhard, the stone snowman torso, instead. Very few ping-pong balls survived. The desk, the dancing spell having worn of, shambled out to watch, and Ilarion had the idea of setting it on Gerhard and sitting back to watch the ensuing chaos.

The desk might have been smashed to smithereens had it come within reach of Gerhard's single, vicious swiping arm but it was cannier than that, and swiftly disengaged from combat. The first fled again as it lumbered ponderously after them with its jerky fowl's gait. Clovis, watching out of the window and killing himself with laughing, was moved to write of the incident to Draco, describing the desk as being not unlike the chicken walkers in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. It occurred to him that assimilative correlation meant that any trouble from the first would give him the opportunity to turn them into Ewoks. This train of thought lead to something muggle called 'Alvin and the Chipmunks'. Clovis shook his head to clear such nonsense. He might teach Dark Arts but some things were too dark to contemplate.

oOoOo

Radagas Gierek watched the antics of the first too with some wistfulness. Sometimes the Musical Marauders let him go along with them but his adoptive father had warned Radagas not to expect too much from non marauders. The Defending Marauders of the first were pretty jolly but they often had a following of others, including that wet French girl. He meant Simone who would have been outraged at being called French and who would have been determinedly nice to Radagas to live up to Daffodil; but instinct warned Radagas to lie low. He did play with some of the juvenile fey and elves at the Tower in the forest, and with Zaly the half-elf away at the school Scloss Adler, Radagas helped play with the oldest Czerny children. They were the offspring of the refugee Aurelia Czerny, widow of one of the dark wizards who had followed the Kazakhstani Spirit Master, and as Aurelia had been taken very much under the wing of Polly and Kreature they were to have another half sibling before the year was out. Radagas thought that it was quite amusing that Kreacher had taken the surname 'Black' which meant the same in English as 'Czerny' in Hungarian. Juliska, Titusz and Istvan would not care about other siblings not being pure human any more than they cared that he was a goblin; the scary man who was their father was no more in their lives and life was good. Radagas could appreciate that; his own father had been a vile creature, who treated his son as an asset to be used to steal. It was, however, not always so much fun for a big boy of almost ten to have to play with little ones, the oldest of whom was Juliska at five. And at that, Juliska was a better companion than some of the more snivelling juvenile elves or fawning fey. He wished he could go up to school this September not next; and decided to ask Clovis about it. After all, he had learned a lot from being around adults of the Blood Group and he was ready. More than ready, certainly if he went to Schloss Adler and not Prince Peak. Radagas was entered for Prince Peak; and it would be fun there, to learn more than his birth father could ever have imagined there was to learn. But perhaps if he did a year at Schloss Adler he could then go into the first at Prince Peak . He scrambled up and went to talk to his father about it.

Clovis listened to Radagas' proposal, sympathising that it was a bit boring for a lad with no peer group to play with in term time and over the Easter, when Clovis must stay in school for the exam class. The boy had got to know the children of Malfoy Manor during several other holiday visits.

"Well, Radagas, you have been doing lessons to give you something to do" said Clovis "And I should think that if you wanted to start Prince Peak a year early you have every opportunity to keep up; and as Severus is flexible, if you have any trouble he can always hold you down to your chronological age if you aren't keeping up with your fellows after the first year. Alternatively, you might start Hogwarts a year early without being at any disadvantage at all, and be with Harry Dursley, and Lucasta Malfoy. It's not so demanding a school as Prince Peak. If you particularly want to go to Schloss Adler, I'll abide by your choice but you won't find the curriculum as broad as either Hogwarts or Prince Peak. I don't think you'd have any difficulty keeping up wherever you went – so long as you were prepared to work hard for Severus. It's your choice, but I need to know by the end of the exams to enter you."

Radagas wrinkled his nose.

"Harry's ok but Lucasta's a bit horsy" he said. "I know they're horsy at Prince Peak but Lucasta always makes me feel that she's measuring me for a snaffle."

Clovis laughed.

"Me too" he confided. "Do you want to give it a go at keeping up at Prince Peak?"

"Yes" said Radagas. "That way I get to have an extra year too if I want it, getting more ZH's – NEWTs, I mean – and being the best educated goblin in Germany. And then I can take that back to Berlin and do some serious arse-kicking."

"Sounds good to me" said Clovis.

oOoOo

The exam classes should not have any trouble; on the whole they were well prepared and had good average marks, even Eve Cherrytree, who was somewhere in the middle of the class with an overall E average in the eight subjects she was taking. Eve had every hope of taking O in charms, and had in fact improved in that class, getting on better with Professor Panov than she had done with the occasionally sarcastic Dione Parnassus. She could expect to get an E for Divination too if she did not blow the practical. Her talents were not large but her theory was good and Madam Pippin was an excellent example of a teacher whose skills were more in the theory than the practice. And Madam Pippin's matter of fact acceptance of that, and honesty about it, impressed Eve. Eve had not liked Edmée Piret; she thought her pretentious. If there was anyone Eve would like to model herself on it was Salvia Pippin. Fraulein Pippin showed to particular advantage when the governors visited unexpectedly just before the holidays and one of them who plainly disapproved of divination demanded to know if it was true that the English taught divination as a sop towards near squibs and whether Fraulein Pippin was in fact unable to perform any other magic.

Salvia smiled demurely.

"I think my five NEWTs – ZH equivalents – should tell you otherwise" she said. "Surely the governors DID look over my qualifications when I was hired?"

"Hm, well!" said the governor, a blustering fellow with a red face. "I should prefer a more graphic demonstration of your ability than paper qualifications!"

"Then look in a mirror" said Salvia, calmly. "Class, be seated, the governors cannot, er, divine your efficacy unless you show them what you can do. Perhaps the governors would like to have a reading with the cards each?"

"What do you mean, look in the mirror?" he was still blustering. The all-age older class was trying not to giggle.

Zlatka rose.

"Fraulein Pippin has amply demonstrated her transfigurational and charm abilities, sir, in the English fashion, without resorting to wand or incantation" she said, conjuring a mirror and holding it up.

The words 'fatuous moron' appeared in flashing neon zits on his forehead.

"It is a masterly demonstration" said Von Frettchen as the other governor spluttered. Salvia smiled austerely and made a pass in the air cancelling the words. Von Frettchen added, "Using a colour changing charm in addition to the transfigurational summoning and, er, twisted health magic in one spell is quite out of the ordinary. I think, Von Teufel, we have no need to doubt the abilities of this fine witch in other respects than Divination. Though I have to say that I am happy to consider anyone who can teach this rare subject even if their other subjects were shaky. Frankly, so long as a teacher is well trained in all methods and able to recognise true divinational abilities, a muggle or squib could do the job better than no teacher at all. It is, after all, a subject in which the students need leading to discover for themselves their own latent and often very individualistic talents. Am I correct, Fraulein Pippin?"

"Indeed so" said Salvia. "As it happens, I couldn't divine my way out of a paper bag, but I come from a long line of diviners and I've grown up seeing and knowing the signs. I – I don't say that a muggle couldn't learn to teach it but I think they would be at more of a disadvantage than a squib from a divining family to learn to recognise signs of any of the minor trances. There are more levels of trance than the full trance of the seer which may be triggered by different stimuli. Some people draw frantically what they have seen, some people blurt out a phrase without quite being aware of what they are saying until they have said it. There's a look in the eyes. Those people who can get something out of the cards can go into a deeper level of concentration and come up with more than a normal interpretation even if they are skilled at laying cards anyway. These things go into the portfolio of a diviner to add to their examination. It's not always possible to produce a vision to order – though there were those of us who faked things up to try to get the English ministry to take notice of the danger of ODESSA. I freely admit it! We could read the signs that weren't admissible in the exam at the time. It's one reason the exam has been changed to take account of dream diaries and other portents read over the course. My grandmother, who teaches at Hogwarts after her career as an insurance diviner, thought it would be fairer and less likely to make fools of the examiners when she realised that all her grandchildren were taking them for suckers. It IS a subject that can be abused by fakery. Which is why having a teacher who CAN recognise fakery is necessary. And who can choose to take pupils – like Fraulein Cherrytree – who have low talent but a genuine interest in the way divination works. Fraulein Cherrytree has more success than I do even so; and hopes to teach. At the other end are Herr Löenzahn, whose reading of the cards saved a child's life and Fraulein Asimova who can find on a globe where any person she has a ritual contact with might be."

"Indeed?" demanded Von Teufel "Who is Fraulein Asimova?"

"I am" said Zlatka.

"Then where is my son?" demanded Von Teufel.

Zlatka regarded him.

"I will need twenty three drops of your blood" she said. "That will tell me where anyone is who has a familial connection to you. I cannot define which is your son without something of his own to handle."

"All right, let's see how good you are" he sneered.

"May I register a protest to the governors that such an attitude to a pupil is hardly likely to make them perform to their best ability" said Salvia firmly. "Please try to maintain a more neutral tone, Herr Von Teufel."

"Can your girl do it, or not?" asked Von Teufel.

"Can you perform in bed with a girl who sneers at you?" snapped Salvia. "Because with divination, as with male sexual performance, half of it at least is in the belief. As it happens, Fraulein Asimova is actually good enough to manage a ritual finding regardless of the rudeness and scepticism of her audience. I am making the objection on the grounds that other students might not be so sanguine. Now I pray you, if you want the test done, pray bleed for Fraulein Asimova."

Von Teufel scowled but cut his finger. Zlatka counted out twenty three drops.

"Why twenty three?" he demanded.

"Why, because of the arithmantic significance of the prime number twenty three and its relation to the human heritance of course" said Zlatka. "Nobody has any right hoping to be competent at ritual magic without an understanding of arithmancy; it's the basis of all higher magic. Are you not then up to date with the latest research from England, sir?"

"It's impossible to even consider any level of competency beyond ZP without arithmancy, sir" said Eve. Backing up Fraulein Pippin against this idiot was something she could do. "One might attain ZH in other subjects but really without the backup of at least a ZP in arithmancy one is never going to understand them at a deeper level."

"Nobody these days would even consider calling themselves a wizard or witch without a level of arithmantic understanding" said Zyrillis "Because you can never be more than a second rate magician without it as a basis."

"You asked for that old boy" Von Frettchen muttered to Von Teufel.

Zlatka has meanwhile started chanting over the blood and held her divining rods over it. Then she held the rods over the globe.

"You have six relatives variously in Germany, in Bavaria," said Zlatka, "and one in America."

Von Teufel paled.

"America?" he said. "Are you sure?"

"Yes" said Zlatka.

"Excuse me" said Von Teufel, and swept out, as pale as his florid countenance could manage.

"An excellent demonstration; thank you Fraulein Asimova" said Von Frettchen smoothly to his young blood sister. Zlatka curtsied.

oOoOo

The governors stopped next at the Potions Dungeon.

"Fraulein Von Freyer, how do you feel the chances of the ZH students are with respect to the damage caused to the dungeon?" asked Von Frettchen bluntly.

"Good" said Cacilia. "We were able to replace everything that was needed for the set potion; Mandragora's most difficult to obtain ingredient is the mandrake, and Señor Carcano was kind enough to use personal friendship and obtained some through the neutral country of Belsornia from the magical country of Zorn. He is well thought of there, and when he explained our plight, Princess Josefina forwarded a request to Prince Irun of Zorn personally."

"Well, well, I wonder if such mandragora will have extra special qualities!" said Von Frettchen.

"They will not" said Cacilia. "Prince Irun was careful to note that the mandrakes he had sent were quite ordinary so that no unfair advantage should be had over other students of the ZH. We did not need to buy in all those needed as Frau Kluba had been raising them, but we would have had to rely on some previously prepared ones too and were short a few. "

Von Frettchen nodded.

"Good of Prince Irun to make that clear so there can be no suggestion of anything unfair" he said. "What are you covering in this class, Fraulein Von Freyer?" he asked.

Cacilia tried not to pull a face.

"The fourth are revising Golapott" she said. "Unfortunately as the fourth are three parts dunderhead and one part feckless idiots I fear that I shall have to fall back on the tried and tested method pioneered by Professor Snape of randomly poisoning some of them in order to give them some incentives to get their antidotes right. Indeed if they do not all get at least a pass grade today, I believe I shall have them in detention and poison all of them so they might see how quickly they can learn to brew an antidote on their own account."

"Dear me!" said Von Frettchen. "A drastic measure, but if they are truly so dire, I can see that you have very little choice. With potioneering as one of the subtle arts, it cannot be neglected and anyone who fails to survive the brewing of their antidote would be very little loss to the world of academe. Really Severus Snape is a stern disciplinarian indeed! How ODESSA thought the English to be soft and sentimental I cannot understand" he added with his tongue firmly in his cheek. "Very well; carry on. I hope that your students do not require a detention though, I have never liked composing letters of commiseration to parents over the odd fatality."

"If they don't buck up they'd better worry about random poisonings throughout the rest of their school life" said Cacilia grimly, trying not to laugh at the way the ferret had played along.

The fourth were listening in dismay.

"But you cannot let her do this, Monsieur!" burst out Antoinette Labellette "It is not civilised, and besides there are those of us in the class who are pure blooded!"

"Fraulein" said Von Frettchen, with a curt bow "It is in no wise the part of the governors to interfere in the class discipline of a teacher unless they feel it to be excessive. Your avoidance of discipline is in your own hands; work harder. Any pure blood witch or wizard who betrays their blood by slacking deserves discipline. Fraulein Von Freyer!" he clicked his heels punctiliously, kissed her hand and departed, explaining to his worried but less vocal fellows as soon as they were out of earshot that this was a bluff.

"She wouldn't really, would she?" Arkadi Rasputin asked Kjell.

"I don't THINK so" said Kjell "But I'm not going to take any chances – she'd keep an antidote ready to shove down the neck of anyone who couldn't counter a poison on their own but in her shoes I'd actually enjoy poisoning Labellette and Sternkessel."

"Point taken" said Arkadi.

oOoOo

The governors made a brief detour – the feral desk on fowls' legs was feeling its oats and was as happy to chase governors as first years, and they had perforce to rapidly negotiate the stairs that slowed the progress of the errant desk – and came upon the first in the greenhouses repotting bouncing bulbs. Maledictions might be readily learned in this class in a variety of languages. Frau Kluba was pleased to see the governors.

"You must ask the art magic hobby group to show you the maze, Herzog" she said. "It would be advantageous if there was a small grant available for me to look more deeply into the art of using pattern magic to improve the growth of plants; I have managed to learn something of it but only a little."

"One can use pattern magic to improve the growth of plants?" said Von Frettchen. "I will do better than a grant, Frau Kluba, I will see if I can find anyone who knows anything about this subject and host a symposium on it in my own house and grounds over the summer, if I can get it together so soon. I am sure my own gardeners would be interested as well. And my brother-in-law and ward" he added.

"Oh THANK you, Herzog!" said Frau Kluba, curtseying. To stay in the ducal residence, even for a symposium, was a nice fillip. If she could wheedle cuttings from the duke's own plants they might sell for more on the side too. Frau Kluba had family to support; and the ministry was still being dilatory over bringing the salaries of non German teaching staff in line with those of German heritage.

There was a brief interruption here as Simone lost control of a bouncing bulb and it hit Daffodil, and Simone was inclined to burst into noisy tears over hurting her friend.

"Hey, I'm the one walloped, not you!" laughed Daffodil, rubbing her face. "It thinks as I'm a Daffodil, I must be a bulb too and wants to be friendly!"

As Daffodil was serenaded affectionately by the honking daffodil plants that might not even have been entirely untrue.

The governors left them to it.

Sooner or later bouncing bulbs had a habit of getting out of control and attacking visitors – even if no bright spark had the idea of accidentally on purpose aiming one at visitors.

oOoOo

Von Frettchen did talk to the Musical Marauders about their maze – after he had lost the other governors to kaffee und küchen – and had elves bring coffee and cakes for him and the marauders.

It was Marauder business after all.

Von Frettchen was rapidly coming to the conclusion that these youngsters were possibly the nearest things there were to experts on the subject when Sigismund mentioned that they were in correspondence with a big boy called Rory Staines in Prince Peak who was the friend of one of the co-authors of the book about art in magic and who had looked into patterns in gardening after they had written to Prince Peak about it.

Rory Staines might as well be his symposium leader and perhaps Randolph Wright and Erica Malfoy would add their thoughts also.

Von Frettchen duly admired the maze and allowed himself to be shown around it and to be lectured on Runes.

He might have said that he knew all about the use of Elder Futhark whether normally or in merkstave, the dark opposite effects available, but the uses the runes were put to by small boys – and one small girl – were startlingly original.

It rather brought home the concept of assimilative correlation by jiggery pokery.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

The holidays brought visitors to Agata when two parents came to collect their daughter.

Madame Labellette and her elf husband asked to see the head before they saw their daughter.

"I'll come to the point, Frau Bacsó" said Mme Labellette. "Antoinette wrote about being cursed by her own wand – knowing what she was expelled for from Beauxbatons, I presume someone managed a reversing curse – and it was cured by chanting. It was by chanting that my husband was cursed and I wondered if we could pay YOUR chanting master to reverse the curse on him."

"Well I can ask him" said Agata, dubiously "But he's quite temperamental and he doesn't like Antoinette. She spent several days with feathers because he said she was so feather brained she should be feathery on the outside too."

"We can give him anything he asks!" squeaked the elf.

Agata raised an eyebrow.

"Knowing Professor Potishev, that might be quite exotic" she murmured. "Well I shall ask" and she clicked her fingers. Ritty arrived and bowed beautifully.

"At your service Gnädige Frau" he squeaked politely, seeing another elf and showing off shamelessly.

"Ritty, please be good enough to ask Professor Potishev to come to my office when it's convenient" said Agata.

Ritty beamed.

"He will not be long, Frau Bacsó, the tune he was writing is all finished and he has set Junge Zoltan Nagy to crafting a cello line" he said.

"What has Zoltan been doing?" sighed Agata.

"Nothing, Frau Bacsó, he volunteered!" squeaked Ritty. "It is not done to perform mischief between the last day of term until after the exams!"

"Of course" said Agata. "Tell Professor Potishev than there's a curse breaking proposition to be put to him; if he isn't in the midst of muse he should take that in."

Ritty grinned, swept another bow and clicked his fingers to vanish.

The Labellettes were staring.

"A – a half elf?" asked Mme Labellette.

"Oh no" said Agata "All the castle elves – bar one who labours under a similar curse to M. Labellette for leading a violent attack on the school – are free and livered. It is extraordinary how the antiquated do not realise that a free and enthusiastic servant gives better service than a downtrodden slave."

"Did your chanting master curse the enslaved one?" squeaked M. Labellette, who looked gratified to be given a title by Agata.

"Oh no; it was my head boy who cursed him" said Agata. "The fellow had taken the first years hostage and was planning on taking all pure blood witches to breed on and enslaving the boys. We had warning through divination but had to go along with the attack so that the timing of the defence could be optimised. My head boy was irritable at having to have the little ones frightened. One of them is a protégé of his, entrusted to his care by the child's parents, though that little horror was busy taunting his captors" she added, trying not to chuckle over Ilarion's indignation.

"Such talent in a youth!" cried M. Labellette.

Volodya came in at that moment.

"You wanted me, Agata?" he said.

"This couple have a proposition to put to you" said Agata.

"My husband was cursed to become an elf" said Mme Labellette "No ordinary curse breaking has been able to undo it; Achille Villeneuve himself was unable to do it when our sons approached him, and he only believed such a curse could be performed when he heard that the English chanter Darryl Zabini had done it."

"Went pale and stank of fear too" commented her elven husband dryly.

"Well he would" said Volodya "I've heard of Achille Villeneuve; all my contacts from England reckon him to be a little girl with some very silly and antiquated ideas. He couldn't enchant his way out of a box. My friend Darryl Zabini is extremely competent however and has a very fine voice even if he has no real musical talent. If he cursed you there would be some very good reason so I'm going to say, nothing doing."

"I – we'll give you anything!" said the elf "More wealth than you could possibly imagine!"

"I don't know – I could imagine quite a bit" murmured Volodya, unable to resist the Star Wars quote since he had been introduced to the films and – to him more important – the music of John Williams. "Wealth does not interest me, and I would rather be poverty stricken than set loose some racist scum who has raised a daughter who fills me with longing to defenestrate her every time I hear her screechy, ill-modulated and foul mouthed voice."

"Professor Potishev has no tact" murmured Agata.

"I agree that my daughter had become out of control!" squeaked the elf. He had been wand burned by her. "But I beg you – whatever you want!"

Volodya turned from where he had been about to depart and knelt before the elf. He gazed into the big eyes. Volodya did not consider himself a very good legilimens – what he found in the thoughts of others could be too ugly for his gentle soul – but he had learned the skill.

"What I want, M. Labellette" he said "Is your promise to work towards teaching your elves to want to be free and liveried; and to free their offspring and send them to school with a promise of employment when they are done should they wish it; and that you will pledge the sum of a child's schoolfees every year for either one of your elves' offspring or another elf or half elf to go to school. You have been made aware at the deepest level that your thoughts and those of an elf are no different, and you know that they are quite capable of being educated – if taught to be free. You will also take no revenge on your elves for pretending to disbelieve you were the master and pushing you around, and nor will your wife take revenge on your behalf now she knows what you were too proud to tell her" he looked up at the woman who was gasping "And actually, M. Labellette, I give you respect for having the balls not to complain to her. You have learned a lot, have you not?"

"Yes" squeaked the elf.

"Do you still believe that might makes right?" asked Volodya.

"I – I do not know" squeaked Labellette. "The strong should surely rule?"

"The strong should impose rule of law to protect the weak" said Volodya. "Let me explain something about elves, where their association with humans came from, how some of us chanted for eight hours without pause so elves in the circle we covered would no longer have to punish themselves for even disloyal thought and how that has now weakened some of the most dangerous dark creatures in the world" and he proceeded to do so.

"And the reason the fey are so dangerous is because they have rule of law that is unbreakable" said Volodya "Imposed to prevent their society from destroying itself. They are canny enough to realise that might needs custom, law and courtesy to back it up – even if operating with evil intent. Your daughter is a brat."

"Yes" squeaked Labellette with feeling. "We have spoilt her. And – and taught her wrongly."

"It seems so simple when Achille says that might makes right" moaned his wife.

Volodya snorted.

"I don't see how he'd know about might" he said. "Supremacists always trot out tired old aphorisms to hypnotise and control their followers, as he's been using you. And your boys whom I saw in your thoughts, so full of the idea of a new age that is so much a tissue of lies that they will suffer if they do not sever the connection. This Achille has charisma; but he's the type who gives orders that if you analyse them boil down to 'let's you and him fight for my glory'. Think on it. Will you pay my price?"

"Yes" said Labellette, who did not like the idea of being used.

Volodya nodded; he saw no need to impose an unbreakable vow. The man was a man of his word whatever other faults he might have.

Volodya began chanting in Finnish, circling Labellette twenty three times.

The naming magic and the power of twenty three were enough; and with a cry of relief Labellette grew to normal size and his usual appearance, clutching frantically and with embarrassment at the pillow case he wore about his waist.

Volodya smiled, twitched his wand, and the pillowcase became a robe.

"You do not use incantation either!" gasped Mme Labellette.

"I have done a year in the English school in Austria" said Volodya. "One learns the higher mysteries there if one has the capacity to do so. I doubt your daughter would get anything out of it. She is scarcely capable to learn enough to pass as a witch and frankly she's as stupid as a stump too. And if she wants to be a dark lady she should learn not only to manage a few more curses than wand burning, but also how to be a lady. Am I through here, Agata? Only I have a variation I should like to craft now most of the dunderheads are out of the castle."

"Oh by all means go to your variations" said Agata waving a hand. Volodya made a beautiful leg to her, a lesser bow to Mme Labellette and a click of the heels to M. Labellette before departing.

"Extraordinary young man" said Mme Labellette nervously.

"A musical genius" shrugged Agata "But he believes passionately in the cause of freedom and equality. Would you like to collect your daughter?"

"Not really but I suppose we have to" said M. Labellette.

"She is still our little girl" said his wife.

"Madame, if you have forgotten what the little madam did because I was…indisposed…. I have not" said M. Labellette grimly. The cursed wounds of the wand burning had been healed by a twist to the chant and he knew from the way Volodya Potishev had glanced keenly at the strategic way the pillowcase had covered the wounds on his chest that the young man knew and had done that healing as an extra, un-asked for gift. Labellette was grateful.

"We – perhaps she is spoilt" said Mme Labellette. "Oh Antoine, I am so pleased you are yourself again!" she cast herself on him.

His face softened.

"We do her no favours if she grows up uncontrollable Louise" he said.

"I agree" said Agata dryly. "The child is nasty, ill bred and rude. Only with backing from her parents can I hope to reach her before she is adult – if indeed I can do so. The damage might be irreparable."

Mme Labellette burst into tears.

"What can we do?" asked Labellette.

"Make sure you let her know that you will not permit any further of such behaviour" said Agata. "Perhaps you might tell a small untruth that you had not realised the extent of her bad behaviour before, which was why you backed her."

"Frankly in some respects I did not" said Labellette grimly. "Frau Bacsó, tell me truthfully what you believe about educating goblins and part goblins."

"They are related to the fey as are Veeli and elves" said Agata "And though I was unwilling to accept it, goblins may be educated to as high a level as humans, and if brought up in surroundings of respect can be more civilised than those humans who are ill bred. Bluntly, I would rather have all the goblins and part goblins from the free school than your daughter; they are more nicely behaved and better scholars."

Labellette winced.

"Blunt enough" he said.

Agata looked at him shrewdly.

"The girl learned her violent temper from somewhere" she said "Were you by any chance thinking of punishing her harshly for anything she might have done to you as an elf?"

"It crossed my mind" said Labellette grimly.

His wife gave a cry of distress.

Agata sniffed.

"Violence breeds violence, Monsieur; it does not answer" she said.

He gave an angry shrug.

"Then what would you suggest?" he cried "The girl is out of control – I have a hasty temper, I admit it. I cannot like the idea of treating goblins and elves as equals though I concede an educated elf has advantages and serves better, for understanding the reasons for orders. I found that out soon enough when listening to the ignorant chatter of my own elves. And I will adhere to the vow I made to your chanter. But what is to be done to correct her to survive real politik?"

"I would suggest," said Agata, "that you approach a telling off with a talk on how disappointed you are that she is so filled with anger and discourtesy that she even turns on her own kind – I gather her brothers did what they could for you if they spoke to Villeneuve so she has that example to have held up to her – and then you should suggest that if she cannot learn to behave, she will learn better in the way you have done – by being an elf. My chanter would, I suspect" she added dryly "Be only too happy to see that she spends as long as is necessary in the form. You might want to suggest a time in which to pull herself up – the next holidays say. That would give the long summer holiday in which to have to deal with being an elf, or a goblin, as seems meet, and Nefrita Von Strang und Luytens would gladly do me the favour of having her in her school if the lesson took longer than the summer" she smiled a brittle smile "Or you might tell her that if she is expelled again, the school for blood taints and goblins is the only alternative left."

"Siegfried's Arse! What a threat!" cried Labellette.

Agata shrugged.

"You might do worse than to visit it and see for yourself the difference between educated and proud goblins and those rather revolting downtrodden creatures marginalised into crime" she said. "Against my will I have been much impressed. I do not much like goblins; but I concede that their place in our society had been misused and abused. And I would rather see them choose sides with humans than with the fey if it should come to that."

Labellette paled. Volodya's explanation that Dementors were lesser form fey had got his attention.

"Then I will consider such a visit" he said. "And now to collect our daughter. I do not want her to end up in Nurmengard."

oOoOo

"Maman!" Antoinette was delighted to see her mother; then looked beyond her and paled as she recognised her father in his normal, human, form. "P-papa" she said.

"Antoinette" said Labellette. "You and I will have much to discuss when we have got back home. Pray,mount the carriage; I will not touch on the subject until we are in our own home. You may instead tell your maman and I how you have been progressing with your school work."

Antoinette paled even further.

Her standard of work had improved with the inexorable coaching of the Jade Fag Marauders but Professor Panov had been moved to exasperation to demand of her if she were in fact a muggle entering the school under false pretences, there had been the feather incident with Professor Potishev and she had repeated several potions with Professor Von Freyer who had also made her clean up behind her as no self respecting elf might, in Cacilia's words, be expected to have to deal with the turgid concatenations that smelled as though they had been brewed by an inept necromancer.

Antoinette had a term report that she tremblingly handed to her father.

He read it in silence and passed it to the girl's mother.

"Th-they say she is at least trying to work hard" said Mme Labellette.

"An improvement on term after term of being castigated as lazy" growled Labellette. "I suppose it is not the child's fault that she is inept. I fear it lends some credence to those new theories of heritance whereby pure blood is no guarantee of ability. I am disappointed but at least hard work may overcome being a near squib. I am glad that you have chosen to work at last; you have been indulged and protected from your own laziness and folly too long."

"Those rotten Marauders made me work" said Antoinette sulkily "You know, the blood traitors who made my wand work rebound."

"Well they managed to overcome you, proving who has the better right to exert their will concerning your lawful activities in buckling down" said Labellette uncompromisingly. "Be pleased that you have managed to do enough to be permitted to progress with your chronological age next year on the proviso you do not backslide; because had you failed to make the grade, you would be leaving Durmstrang to go to the school for goblins and blood taints where they have to deal with the ill educated."

Antoinette gave a cry of anguish.

"Papa, you would not! Would you?"

"I most assuredly shall if you ever get a single report of laziness again" said Labellette. "Do you want to be the sort of helpless creature so many German witches are, that their husbands take their wands into safe keeping?"

"No papa" said Antoinette.

"Antoine" said Mme Labellette suddenly "It occurs to me that something that M. Villeneuve said suggests he would like to see that happening in France. I – Antoine, he has FOOLED us."

Labellette's face flared red in anger.

"You are right" he said. "The boys shall hear of this; and we will be fooled by his aphorisms and flattery no longer. If he will be deceitful about one thing he will be deceitful about others; and the Durmstrang chanter is not the first to speak of him in scorn. It is that German advisor of his who is calling the shots, for all that he is flattery itself to Villeneuve!"

Antoinette listened in horrified silence.

"I do not want my wand taken!" she whined.

"Then when we get home you had better listen to me, and listen well, while I tell you a few home truths" said her father. This terrible idea that they were being controlled not merely by another Frenchman but by that smiling bastard of a German was insupportable!

oOoOo

With the majority of the non-exam students out of the castle the staff settled down to the business of last minute revision and checking that all of the syllabus had been understood. On the whole the ZH class was well prepared and the only complaints were from Hasso Langbessen and Adelard Löenzahn, who along with Zlatka were to be taking the English OWL in Divination but had no opportunity to pursue it further in school. The Asimov twins were to do an extra year at Prince Peak where Zlatka would take divination further; both wanted to learn comparative magic and generally imbibe the atmosphere of higher learning. And Zlatko said he might as well do something while he waited for his girlfriends to leave school. Zlatka might like to be with Albert MacMillan, but knew that honing her skills would mean that they could set up as a team of freelance finders with greater success. Albert would always give his services free to his friend Gorbrin Malfoy-Tobak but that was understood.

There was an unspoken agreement that tracking down lost elves was not going to be one of the jobs they accepted – if the elf in question had managed to find a loophole to flee slavery.

Gisela and Desolina, the only two taking Care of Magical Beasts were to have a holiday field trip with Señor Carcano under the chaperonage of one of his wives, Kathleen. Anastasia was staying in the castle with the four young children the ladies had between them, each having birthed a second child within a month of each other just before the Yule holidays. Orlando had arranged a trip to Belsornia to see the magnificent flying horses there, and too the dragon reserve, and hoped to be able to give them a glimpse of Peryton, the winged deer once thought extinct and now judiciously herded and culled ethically by Belsornian game keepers. Openings for magical animal handlers and healers in Belsornia were soaring, and had Gisela not a job to walk into teaching in one of the schools set up by English Marauders she might have considered applying. Desolina too had a job waiting for her, teaching Chanting in Beauxbatons, but like Gisela she appreciated Orlando Carcano giving them the opportunity to see beautiful magical beasts close up.

Clovis Gierek had considered a field trip for the Dark Arts class and decided against it after the troubles that had arisen out of a trip to a duelling contest the previous year. Having a son like Radagas come from the trip had been the bright spot but this year he planned to lie low with his students. Takeo Namudzu's ruthless efficiency and Zhanargul Nurtazin's calm handling of anything that might occur had been enough publicity, not necessarily to be desired, as well as his own enforced role being made effectively to take part in the duelling. Clovis shuddered to think what might happen if anything happened to annoy Zlatko Asimov, who was likely to get creative.

And there were too many breakable things around, like Berlin.

Salvia Pippin had also managed to arrange a field trip for those people taking OWL Divination, a larger class than she had anticipated, with four in the fifth as well as the three in the ZH class, and two as well in the lower sixth, Xanthe Eulenspiegel and Yorick Thorwaldson, who shared the talent with his little sister Sofie. Yorick was hoping to be a curse breaker – he was a very competent chanter, good at arithmancy and the dark arts and hoped to add divination to his skills to help uncover the nature of more complex curses. He was better than his sister, and along with Xanthe, Zyrillis, Adelard, and Zlatka was of the level of ability that Salvia had no problems at all in accepting to NEWT level. It was a shame Adelard would be unable to pursue it to NEWT; but as he was to work in the ministry, Salvia had every intention of asking Adelard if he would pursue his studies in his own time with some tutorials to establish a German examiner so that a ZP and ZH might be set. At least Takeo Namudzu had been talked into acting as a temporary examiner for a Chanting ZH to free Lucius from that duty, because the young man felt that it would be further good experience towards starting his own school. And knowing that he could chant up the Jade Wolf curse meant that it was unlikely that any pupils who recalled him as a schoolboy were likely to give him any disrespect.

The Divination class was to visit an insurance diviner's firm, through the liaison of Salvia's own family with a German firm. They were to spend a day sitting in on readings of clients, doing their own readings to compare with the professionals, and seeing how the discipline of a proper job might contrast with the fictional depiction of a seer as a wild and free creature, either despised until proven a true seer, or honoured and treated with respect according to the tale. The five top students of the nine certainly had the ability to pass as insurance diviners with better than 60% accuracy, though Zlatka's skills were a little more esoteric and she was more likely to predict where a subject would travel in the next five years rather than their projected health.

Xanthe fell foul of the insurance diviner by insisting that a man he thought a good risk would be dead before the year was out; and when he rubbished her readings shrugged and told him that it was his money he was paying out and that he was short sighted enough to predict that Brazil would win the next Quidditch World Cup.

As Brazil was under ban for the next three World Cups this was remarkably cheeky and Xanthe was thrown out in no uncertain terms [the which, when it came to Salvia's ears earned a formal complaint for having a young witch ejected onto the streets of Berlin for any reason] whereat Xanthe went in pursuit of other practical divination. Being just turned seventeen she had no compunction in turning a wizard into a statue when he assumed she was for hire and the school uniform was just a gimmick. She found a goblin-run bookie's office just at the junction of Koboldstrasse where a selection of local Quidditch games were being bet on. Xanthe wrote down the teams and the odds and took herself to a small café further down the Kesselstrasse where she proceeded to lay cards and make her own choices before returning to make her bets.

She was well enough off to stand any losses, but Xanthe was interested to know how she might do. The goblin staff were almost obsequiously polite to a well dressed young witch in Durmstrang uniform and the manager offered her an escort. Xanthe smiled and accepted; it was the gracious thing to do. She arrived back at the Insurance Diviner's office in time to find Salvia demanding that Zlatka perform a finding divination while cursing the insurance diviner who had thrown Xanthe out in English and German. He currently also sported zits declaring him to be a potato head, bilingually, and a nose some four inches longer than it had started out.

Salvia cuffed Xanthe for not insisting that her teacher be informed of the potato head's wrath.

Xanthe took this with equanimity and asked Salvia if she might be informed when her prediction on the client's death came true for her portfolio.

Salvia reflected that Clovis was not the only teacher to have drama when visiting Berlin and resolved to find a less busy place to visit another time. She had no doubt who was responsible for the statue in the middle of the Kesselstrasse that a couple of Vehmgerichten were scratching their heads over. She decided to leave in a hurry.

Most of the pupils at least had received some good experience and either one of the Eulenspiegel twins was quite capable of taking care of herself.

Eve had quite enjoyed herself; she did not have the level of ability to reliably perform insurance divination, but she knew that if she did not enjoy teaching she had the ability to interpret the findings of more talented but less well trained individuals. And she concurred with Xanthe's reading when she heard of it – and as Xanthe had also memorised the official diviner's card laying cried out in horror at how he had misinterpreted the coincidence of combination of two otherwise innocuous cards.

Salvia Pippin was pleased with her class; they worked hard and learned well. Even those less talented like Eve knew what they were talking about and Salvia told Eve that she would have no hesitation in taking her to NEWT even though it would be unlikely that her mark would be good.

"That's all right Madam Pippin" said Eve, earnestly – she liked being able to converse in English with English usage of titles – "I know I'm not very good. And once I might have pursued it as a soft option but I've really enjoyed your teaching and look forward to teaching for myself. Especially as I appreciate how lucky I am that Frau Bacsó decided to include it on the curriculum and found a decent replacement to the dippy moo we had at first."

Salvia laughed.

"Tact not your strong suit, Eve! Well if you definitely do mean to teach I'll confide to you with more honesty than tact that a lot of those with divinational talent are, er, dippy moos. Especially when the poor kids have been made much of by silly parents for falling into trances so they think themselves something special. They are not really that special – not without hard work to back up the natural ability. And if all they ever manage is trances, well I fear as a diviner they are of little practical use. The Department of Mysteries in England, and I expect they may have something similar here too, is full of unfulfilled prophesies stored in dusty globes. Such prophesies generally only become valid if one or more of those named in them proceed to act upon the prophecy – even as Voldemort marked Harry Potter as his equal by choosing to believe that he was the one the prophecy meant. At that moment the prophecy had to be fulfilled and Harry became its focus. Some things happen as they are foretold but they are not common. A number of people made comments about the Jade Wolf overcoming the Golden Sun which referred to Jade Snape leading Durmstrang to overthrow Prince Gerhardt and ODESSA but as Jade considers such things are tosh I don't think anyone even mentioned it to her. Good thing! Jade being Jade, she'd probably have decided that she refused to be a prophecy and would had walked out on the whole business. But the point I'm making is that Jade went ahead regardless of a prophecy. We know that dreams and portents ARE worth taking notice of – Adelard's saving of that foolish first year, and in Prince Peak there was a lad who dreamed of the Russian attack which enabled Professor Snape to narrow down the time when he was expecting it, as our own results were of course communicated to him by Frau Bacsó."

Salvia had no trouble remembering to call Severus 'Professor Snape'; he was still a stern potions master in her thoughts!

"I should think having visions must be uncomfortable" said Eve.

"It is, by all accounts" said Salvia. "And causes headaches and exhaustion for a sudden and uncontrolled channelling of magic force. Learning to channel it through other methods is by far and away a better way to perform divination. And of course some people have odd talents – some can divine to find a particular commodity, water for example, or gold. Zlatka finds people. She is talented and can find other things too, but people are her speciality. Some people know single specific things – like what wand any witch or wizard should have. Madam Black, who works part time in Ollivander's, can do this. She chose not to pursue Divination, not recognising her unique talent as a part of it. Nurturing the odd and often quirky talents is one of the delights of a teacher; and, too, depressing the pretensions of the more hysterical and theatrical seers of visions. And, I suppose, those who have vivid dreams who are encouraged much by admiring parents" she added. "This you have to play by ear; and learn as you go along. I'm still learning – and glad to be able to do it in an environment of healthy scepticism like Durmstrang! I fancy in places like Beauxbatons it might be that theatricals are encouraged as divas do seem to be the order of the day."

Eve grinned.

"Wencelada says her mother plans a school that is more down to earth and academic than Beauxbatons" she said "And now I have learned not to dislike goblins as much I shall not mind teaching in a mixed race school."

Salvia laughed.

"Well how anyone could say that goblins are not entitled wands when Madam Black reaches for the right wand her own divination has prompted her to make regardless of the race of the child who comes in, I do not know" she said.

Eve was much impressed; more so perhaps then by seeing how much nicer some of the goblins she knew could be than some of the humans at Durmstrang.

Her last barriers of racism were crumbling!


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

The summer term had a Quidditch match to be played before the exams were to be on the students; it was something Agata always welcomed as it gave the school something else to think about and to relax the exam classes. The match was with the Vienna Vampires who had also played Prince Peak and the blooded knew, and shared with Sigismundus de Brujin, the only non blooded member of the team, the fact that the Vampires got very sulky if a 'team of kids' made them look bad at all.

It was therefore Zlatko's suggestion that the school team should see how much they could irritate the visitors.

This was fairly typical of Zlatko, who enjoyed jerking the strings of anyone he might, but on the whole the team agreed that it might be fun to see if they could do a good job of winding up grownups by way of unwinding those of them who were taking exams.

The Vampires wound fairly successfully, becoming frustrated at the clever back passing of Zlatka, Xanthe and Wencelada, the tactics employed by Sigismundus and Gisela in passing, by clever bat techniques, the bludgers before delivering them, so the chasers were confused as to where a bludger might come from next, the broomnastics of Xantippe as keeper and the antics – it could be described no other way – of Zlatko as seeker. Zlatko did everything he could to put off the opposing seeker, from flying through the rings to side-slide braking, the Wronski feint and what Zlatko described as the 'upski feint' in which he flew straight upwards. This was a strain on any broom and on the rider who would rapidly wonder if their broom could take it. Zlatko knew to an inch what he could get out off his broom and climbed to a respectable ceiling, letting his opposite number catch up to him and overtake before flipping out of the climb as the Vampire's seeker hit the climb ceiling of his broom and had to fight to regain control of a broom that had temporarily gained the glide angle of a brick.

Zlatko went with Viktor Krumm's adage that height was speed, and being under perfect control himself surveyed all below him for the snitch at his leisure; and having seen it, dived almost lazily to grab it and bring it in to land.

The Vienna Vampires were most ungracious losers, feeling that their dignity had been deliberately targeted by a bunch of childish brats.

They said so.

"Well they're right about that" Xantippe muttered to her twin.

"We're still children; we have every right to be childish" said Xanthe, mildly. "They however should get a life and rise above it."

Xantippe giggled.

"That's where their seeker came unstuck; rising above it" she said.

The Vampires refused the slap up spread laid on and left in dudgeon almost as high as the ceiling of climb of a racing broom.

oOoOo

Takeo Namudzu turned up with his personal servant, the man who had been his subject in his Dark Arts exam. Takeo was a little nervous of examining the chanting, but he only had three pupils taking the new ZH, as the Asimov twins had taken the NEWT the year before. His candidates were Gisela, Desolina and Sigismundus. Takeo had suggested retaining a similar form of exam to that of the tried and tested English NEWTs and OWLs and had borrowed from the Ministry some cursed items that had been discovered in Von Frettchen's extensive clean up operation. Sigismundus would need to uncurse a chair that made anyone sitting in it susceptible to suggestion from someone attuned to the chair, an enchantment Takeo considered remarkably subtle for a German and suspected it had originated, bearing in mind the twists he had found to it, in the mind of a wily Hungarian. Gisela would have to deal with restraining cuffs designed to cast an ongoing cruciatus curse on any goblin wearing them, and Desolina as the star pupil would be uncursing a lying foe mirror that twisted the forms of enemies within it to make the person using it believe that friends were in fact enemies, twisting their features into looks of hatred and sneering. As the items were very non standard, the candidates might each have as long as they liked to prepare. Desolina asked if she might have as equipment two juniors to hold a chant she designed as a counterpoint; and Takeo thought quickly and agreed. The juniors were nothing but adjuncts after all. And the curse was somewhat above the normal scope of the exam. And indeed, the understanding of the use of counterpoint, and the instruction of others in what to do to hold one, might be considered worth examining too.

Sigismundus had no real trouble with his chair, though Takeo thought he took longer over it than a top chanter should do; and Gisela with the cuffs soon had them inert. Desolina's juniors did as they were told and the foe mirror was not only uncursed but now functioned correctly as a foe mirror as Takeo noted when using his wand for the revellaspell, as he had suspected from the way Desolina had cast the chant.

"That was a masterly piece of chanting, Fraulein Uccello" said Takeo. "I should be happy for you to keep the mirror as you have retained its original use not merely removed all enchantment along with the curse as I had expected."

"Thank you Herr Namudzu," said Desolina, "but I think you will need it more when setting up your school with potential enemies coming. I am only going to be teaching in an established school."

Takeo did not refuse. She had a point.

The second practical test was to come up with a chant to exclude fairy-like beings, which would be a step towards excluding the fey. It would however be unfair to test on fey exclusion generally which was beyond the scope of the exam.

Sigismundus took the instructions at face value; his line would repel any of the smaller feykind, up to leprechauns. The pixies Takeo had brought along bounced. Gisela made a masterful attempt to exclude fey, and her line would certainly be enough to keep the weaker ones out and the pixies fled in terror. Desolina managed a full fey exclusion. She had taken a lot of notice of Jade's methods and her Ancient Runes knowledge was impeccable. She chanted in Celtic which was as close as she could come to the language of the fey, but she included such words as she recalled Jade using. The pixies were never coming anywhere near that exclusion.

Takeo smiled to himself. Desolina would be a worthy successor to Darryl at Beauxbatons and would have no trouble. She was, too, more confident than he recalled, and her beauty even greater for having attained a serenity.

Cursing the Russian leader had done wonders for Desolina's confidence.

Takeo tested the practical of the ZP students while he was here. This was the four blooded, their satellites Lothar Weisel and Diliana Zhikova; and Eve Cherrytree. Eve had not initially intended to continue with chanting, but as she had received a most thorough grounding at Prince Peak it seemed a shame to waste all that and she had asked if she could catch up. Volodya had given her a chance, and though Eve never hoped for a high grade it was another subject now she had discovered how to work, and might come in handy. Especially when she was teaching when it might do very well to undo such minor curses as pupils managed to drop on each other. True, there would be Wencelada to undo any significant trouble, but Eve would like to feel that she did not have to run to her classmate to deal with the more minor trouble that could arise.

Wencelada was definitely the star here, and all took their cue from her in the hour long chant they were given by Takeo to create a circle of exclusion against lobsters. The chant took into account the state of the lobsters being living, so as not to create any difficulties for the castle elves should they pass through it carrying lobsters cooked for any feast.

The chanting practicals were then over and Takeo withdrew to Schloss Adler to undertake the same test there, only as yet at ZP level as none of the students were ready to take ZH. Some of those taking the ZP were however in the lower sixth and were hoping to take the ZH over the following year. Takeo, who knew how hard this was, had every respect for them.

oOoOo

In the meantime, in the non exam class of the fourth, the Jade Fag Marauders had noticed that Antoinette Labellette had been unwontedly subdued. They neatly cut her out from her usual companion – the girls were more allies than friends – Kunegunde Sternkessel. Kunegunde had no liking for any but the pure blood but she had not wanted to be an intimate of a girl who considered it all right to use low words to burn onto other pure bred witches, however much blood traitors they might be, and Antoinette was easy to get alone as she was rather an isolated little girl. This was no different to her situation in Beauxbatons however, so all that Antoinette noticed was that she had been taken aside by the four most able pupils in the class; and started to feel scared. When she took other pupils aside it had always been to hurt them, with the sycophantic aid of those who sucked up to her wealth.

"What?" she said, rudely.

"Look here, Labellette" said Leva "We might not like you, or approve of what you believe, but you've been pretty poor this term and kinda down. And if your parents have been really unkind and gone too far, maybe we can find the right sort of grownup to do something about it."

"Oh no!" cried Antoinette "It isn't that – papa has been really kind, in effect, more than I – I really deserved or might have expected. It – I have had a man tramping around inside my head and – and I don't know how to deal with it!" and she burst into tears.

"Odin's balls!" said Kjell "Emotional creatures these French – almost as bad as you Russians!"

"I'm Ukrainian thank you very much" said Leva "and if she's had a man tramping around in her head she has every right to cry. Ma pauvre, tell us all about it."

Antoinette choked out about how her father had been made into an elf, and how she had been out of reason angry and had wand burned him – this shocked the marauders to the core but Leva tried not to show this as she cuddled the French girl – and that he had found the perspective of being an elf had given him to think furiously on many things.

"And he had reason to believe that the Roi Soleil, Achille Villeneuve, was lying to his followers and using them, and that he was being used by a German adviser, and that made me angry because I thought the sun rose and set with handsome Achille!" sobbed Antoinette "and I was angry with papa that he thought Le Roi Soleil might have placed compulsions in him like Voldemort did for I could not see how anyone could compare them!"

"Well Voldemort was efficient" said Elfleda "I've heard Jade Snape on Achille and it wasn't complimentary to his abilities. She said any four fourth years could take down his organisation, blindfold, standing on one leg and with their wands up their bottoms."

"Graphic" giggled Sofie "Of course she meant any four Marauders."

"Shut up and let the poor kid go on" said Leva.

They looked expectantly at Antoinette.

"Well I don't think Achille Villeneuve is any better than Voldemort any more" said Antoinette "because papa came back with Professor Zabini, who is SCARY and said that someone had planted suggestions rather than compulsions only maman had picked up that one of them was to deprive married witches of wands which is why papa wanted to find out if there was anything planted. And Professor Zabini asked if he should check me, and papa said yes, and I did not want him in my thoughts! But he – he found that the one time I talked to Le Roi Soleil, Villeneuve, that he HAD put a compulsion in me – and the thought that I was his agent in Beauxbaton to cleanse it of goblin trash, and that I had to hurt those not human and those who wanted to like non humans. And – and he put in the compulsion to adore him!"

"YUK!" said Kjell "That's sort of rather perverted!"

"That's what Professor Zabini said" said Antoinette. "And – and he apologised for not deep legilimensing me in school before I was expelled because he should have realised, he said, that so young a girl should not have such a level of unreasoning hate, because – because he used to be a racist because of things that happened when he was very young. And – and for me it wasn't any more than feeling that humans and pure bloods should be superior until then. And the idea of the compulsion was to upset the part goblins enough so that they failed and showed that the experiment to educate them was no good. Professor Zabini said that Villeneuve and his ilk are – are so little that they have to fear that the one thing they can boast of, which is pure blood, is shown by any means to be the only thing worth having. He says he knows because he was desperate to prove it too when he was unhappy because of family trouble. And now Papa says that if the whole thing is a lie and needs compulsions and suggestion to reinforce it, he is going to look into Goblin education and – and one of my brothers is going to teach in a school Professor Zabini is going to run for full goblins in France because being used is pretty rotten. But I've had that PERVERT inside my head making me f-fancy him!" and she howled anew.

"That's almost like rape" said Elfleda. "And I say, Labellette, we ought to tell the head; she needs to know that your grades might suffer but it's not your fault – and she needs to know that one of her children has been hurt."

"Professor Zabini said he would write" said Antoinette "And the head did see me, and said she knew what had happened in the holidays and that if I wanted to talk about it her office was open; but I was scared. She's so stern!"

"Not when people are in trouble not of their own devising" said Kjell "Though she wields a harder cane than anyone but Professor Nagy" he added with feeling, the Jade Fag Marauders having decided that the unwritten ban on ragging did not extend to professors and they had taken a couple of stripes each for enchanting the head's chair to fart when she sat in it.

They carted Antoinette off to Agata's office and organised the head into sending for coffee and cakes while telling her all at once at the tops of their voices what had been going on.

Agata reflected that when Marauders got together to sort out real trouble like this, it made the occasional farting chair well worth it.

She cuddled Antoinette, who was amazed to see a gentler side to the head, who told her that though her behaviour had been unacceptable, if there had been an external reason for that, it was at least excusable and might be put behind her.

"And we'll help" said Leva. "It's what Marauders are for. And I say, Labellette, if you want to get back at Villeneuve, anything you can remember might help people to bring him down."

"I do want to get back at him" said Antoinette viciously. "He is slime! And Professor Zabini said it was so crudely done that it was pure luck he didn't actually damage my brain!"

"Having your thoughts tampered with might not have helped some of your schoolwork though" said Sofie, critically "If there was a - a crudely inserted blockage. Was that with ordinary confundment and obliviation all tied in to perception altering charm?"

"That's what Professor Zabini said" said Antoinette. "How do you know?"

"Well we'd be pretty poor prunes to have got to fifteen without doing enough library work to figure out how to confund and obliviate" said Sofie "And I recall listening to some of the big ones holding forth on Amortentia and saying that though it was only a lust potion not a love potion it still had a stronger effect than the nearest available charm which was a perception altering charm, unless you were subtle enough to follow that up."

"And Achille and subtle don't go in the same sentence" said Elfleda.

"But he IS good looking" said Antoinette "And I – I was sort of predisposed to like him and it was flattering being talked to by him."

"Pig" said Kjell "We so are going to have to DO something about him."

"I rather suspect that Severus Snape and Darryl Zabini have it all in hand" said Agata dryly.

"And be fair! We have had Russians to play with" said Leva "And my papa and Severus Snape are firmly bringing the Order of the Dragon under the aegis of civilisation."

They admitted Antoinette into the circle of their intimates and were firmly kind to her; and Antoinette started hoping that having had her whole world fall apart might not be so bad after all.

oOoOo

The Charms ZH practical involved obliviating one rat that had learned how to open a box and implanting the memories in one that had not, and the demonstration of the protean charm in changing all the blank name plates on a set of luggage to be identical to the single engraved plate, and to change to another family member. Gisela, who had quietly learned to use the protean charm from her brother in her fourth year to change names on lockers to protect her kit from bullies thought it easy. The written exam required essays on memory charms and locomotor charms and Gisela remembered to include terms like assimilative locomotion by precision for extra marks and wandered into post ZH in mentioning deep-seated compulsions tied to racial memories like the curse on elves designed to feed power to the fey. Some of the victims released from the exam were groaning, but not Gisela. She felt she had done quite well and looked forward to her next exam.

This was the Chanting written exam which was similar in form to the NEWT, requiring the design of a number of chants to cover various situations with extra marks available for the use of appropriate language and arithmantic notes. Nobody had any real trouble with this though Sigismundus knew he would not do as well as the two girls, Gisela and Desolina.

oOoOO

Gisela had chosen to eschew Dark Arts on the principle that she could always read the text book, and as she could raise a patronus and repel a boggart and did not intend to actively seek out dark wizards she would be unlikely to need more. Desolina had disagreed with her there, wanting every advantage against the fey if she was to teach; though she had poked Zlatko when he pointed out that most of the dark creatures she was likely to encounter were French boys. Desolina's great talent was, after all, chanting; and that had so many implications for curse breaking that neglecting the dark arts would be quite foolish. All the blooded of this year bar Gisela were taking Dark Arts as well as Sigisundus de Brujn, Nikolai Nagy and Hasso Langbessen.

oOoOo

The written component of the Dark Arts was no real surprise, and the group wrote knowledgeably and well. When it came to the practical the Asimov twins came first and the examiner brightened. This should be interesting. Both called for volunteers, and both demonstrated ably that they could turn their volunteer into an elf as the worst curse either could think of. Zlatka's cursed item was a pair of earrings that could not be removed once on and which projected the surface thoughts of the wearer like a muggle graphic novel's thought bubbles. She explained that it could be overcome by a half decent occlumens. Her volunteer, a human, was squirming because his thoughts were frankly lascivious. Zlatka smiled austerely and removed the earrings.

"Think all you like; look all you like. Say anything or touch anything and I'll clock you" she said equably.

Zlatko gave his goblin a book to look at. The man exhibited much excitement and fell to the ground not in pain but in pleasure. He seized the book to read again.

One page burned to a crisp at a gesture from Zlatko.

"Oh please! Let me have another one!" cried the goblin.

"When you've had time to think about it you'll be glad I didn't" said Zlatko.

"What is the cursed nature of this? I fail to see it" said the examiner.

"Embedded in text the charm stimulates extreme pleasure. Unless the reader is iron of will, they will want to read it again – and again – and again; until they die of dehydration before starving for not even caring to seek water or sustenance" said Zlatko. "Dying of pleasure. One of Voldemort's though I suspect he stole it from someone else. I believe his idea was to keep anyone who was prying in his works held of their own volition until he found them, if they survived."

The examiner paled.

"A truly terrible curse" he said.

"I dunno, there are worse ways to die" said the goblin.

"Only if you don't have a life that's worth living" said Zlatko "Though I can see it being a merciful way to occupy those dying painfully. Shall I go on?"

Both twins had also ably demonstrated the unforgivable curses and the examiner settled back for more pedestrian efforts.

On the whole he was not surprised, but the last student on his list was to leave him feeling much heartened.

Desolina, having gained in confidence, pulled out all the stops, cursing her volunteer to wither from the extremities – she stopped it quite rapidly and chanted seriously to reverse the damage, absently mentioning that curse breaking demonstrated some of the same elements as Golapott's third law in that the requirements to break a curse were greater than the efforts put into making it. Desolina was taking Potions to ZH and considered knowledge of Golapott to be more subtle than that wizard had ever considered. Her cursed item was a goblet that moved the drink in it away from the drinker so that he or she could never take a drink.

The volunteers were all under the aegis of a charity Jade had set up to find them appropriate work and would, on their release, be questioned and found placements by Jade's man of business, who was Gisela's older brother. It had gone quite well.

oOoOo

The Asimov twins, Desolina and Adelard were among those taking Potions and had already handed in their Mandragora. The short practical covered techniques and the paper was no worse than the stiff test papers that Cacilia had been setting. Nobody had any excuse to forget Golapott and they were well versed in reading the Malfoy lines of the Revellaspell and interpreting them. The same group was joined by Sigismunus and Gisela for Transfigurations and Zlatko wrote assiduously about Gamp's law and the exceptions that came under its umbrella and wandered arithmantically rather past ZH level into the realms of how to calculate the loss of temperature in using permanence to overcome the natural dissipation of conjured objects. As in another essay he also mentioned the newly defined Assimilative Correlation by Cultural Reference, subtly different to Assimilative Correlation by Association, the examiner was later to sigh and mutter about the disciples of Nefrita von Strang und Luytens. Zlatka and Gisela produced papers hardly any less complex even if Sigismundus, Desolina and Adelard returned more solidly standard answers.

Zlatko, who was in one of those moods, turned the piggy bank into a wolf, going, he explained to a bemused examiner, through the assimilative correlation that pigs made him think of Gerhardt and thus reminded him of the abuse of werewolves. Zlatka was not normally as contrary as her brother but she turned the rock into a mammoth because most real mammoths were fossilised; and it was left to the rest to produce cats from the violin.

The mammoth and the wolf took up residence in the forest.

Attila Nagy kissed both Asimovs on both cheeks, listened to the post mortem of his students on the written and handed out kisses on both cheeks all round since, as he declared, even those who had not returned full enough answers to tip their paper into an 'O' grade they had shown that they appreciated enough to eventually surpass many an exam candidate who left with an 'O' and was no wiser. Adelard and Sigismundus, the least emotional of the group, endured stoically being kissed on both cheeks and hoped that Professor Nagy was correct.

oOoOo

Zlatko and Desolina took Ancient Runes and came out laughing that the long question had been a matter of hieroglyphs which everyone who had walked like an Egyptian in a certain section of corridor earlier in the year had brushed up on.

Only the Asimov twins and Adelard were taking Arithmancy. Adelard was moved to joke afterwards that his pest of a fag could have repaid her life debt if she had known a way to get him out of it and Zlatka poked her brother for saying that actually he had quite enjoyed it.

The paper had required among other things working out twenty-three factorial and suggesting some uses for it, which the twins, who used it regularly in chanting, quite enjoyed. Zlatko had moved onto how the use of twenty-three in the avadakadavra constant, mentioning in passing that muggles mangled it to the Avogadro constant and used it in their potions, and that it was also of use in calculating the drop in temperature for permanencing conjured items when Adelard forgot his dignity as a sixth former and summoned a non-permanent, but still very wet, jet of water from his wand to douse Zlatko.

"You deserved that" said Zlatka. "Just save it to talk to Snapelings; Lilith after all might enjoy it now she's nearly thirteen!"

"Mad" said Adelard "All mad!"

Zlatko solemnly stood on his head and waggled his tongue out. He had finished his exams.

oOoOo

Zlatka still had herbology which she pursued from a potioneering point of view and to with a view to learning more pattern magic in view of the success of the Musical Marauders' maze. As with the English exam the practical was first so that those still conscious from whatever stiff test was in store for them might go on to a written paper.

This year it was monkey-hugger trees and Zlatka, who enjoyed the taste of the fruit, reminiscent of kiwi fruit marinated in orange brandy, decided not to muck about and chanted to confund the tree in order to more conveniently harvest all the ripe fruit without having to worry about the tree fighting back.

She was later to be given a vote of thanks by the school.

The written covered the use of astronomy in the planting and harvesting of plants for optimal potion use; and as Zlatka had signed up for extra astronomy with Salvia Pippin to help her potioneering and divination she was glad of this as Frau Kluba's astronomy was very empirical and rather hazy in the theory. There were questions on fertilisers, various kinds of propagation, and a tricky question on how to use the basal cuttage on bouncing bulbs for vegetative propagation.

Zlatka mentioned dryly that she preferred the method of chipping to propagate bouncing bulbs even though they took longer to be ready to use as potion ingredients.

oOoOo

The last exam involving Marauders and friends was Care of Beasts, which was the province of Gisela and Desolina. They wrote assiduously on the collection of such parts of a dragon as might be taken in such a way as to prove non fatal to either dragon or collector and heaved identical sighs of relief that this almost certainly precluded dragons from being involved in the practical. Individual scales and claw clippings could be taken and so could the horns as they regrew. Desolina mentioned that as dragons shed their claws and horns after a fight the safest way to collect them was to find where a mating fight had taken place and just go and pick them up. Nobody in their right mind went out of their way to risk an experienced dragon handler – any more than anyone went out of their way to kill a dragon if it could be avoided. Mating was kept to a minimum to keep within the statute of secrecy and numbers were too low to kill them willy-nilly for parts. Mating fights were often enough fatal to be able to harvest the internal parts like liver and blood, and Desolina absently mentioned the anti-coagulation spell to cast on the corpse of an animal to permit ready harvesting of the blood. There were other short questions; and after lunch they were told to put on clothes for hot weather.

Each found out where they were to be going in turn, Gisela first. It was Africa; and the task was to collect the exploding fluid from an erumpent horn.

Gisela grunted.

Done properly, this should be easy though they had never had the opportunity to practise on real erumpents. The closest they had come was Señor Carcano's use of the feral desk on fowl's legs to simulate erumpent capture. Gisela chose a large male, slightly separated from the rest of the herd; and with an aplomb generated by her familiarity with charms she enclosed the huge beast in cushioning charms to both trammel movement and prevent him from knocking that lethal horn into anything. Cushioning charms on the horn were standard, and some candidates preferred other forms of immobilising but Gisela felt that sticking to one kind of charm that would, moreover, not hurt the creature would be best. Buried in magical cushions, the erumpent was unable to plunge, and with a quick bit of wand work and the little-used spell _mobiloduroceros-erumpens_ – Gisela liked things to be done properly and according to the accepted wizarding taxonomy, though many people used _mobiloerumpant_ – she drew the creature towards her, and with the special syringe drained the horn of its fluid. She turned the beast before releasing it from its charms, making sure that it had a clear path in which to run.

The beast fled blindly. They really were stupid creatures.

Desolina managed to get some exploding fluid but her grasp on charms was more tenuous and she was holding her animal immobile by a chant – and had failed to take into account how the dryness of the African grasslands would affect her throat. Feeling her chant falter she wisely decided to cut short her collection of fluid and let the beast go rather than risk a fatal accident. It was a learning experience; and Desolina filed it away to teach her own chanting classes.

She also passed it on to Volodya, who thanked her.

"Something that we don't always think about" he said, smiling ruefully "At least, those of us who were in northerly climes for the big chant. Thank you."

Desolina was pleased enough however with having collected a respectable amount; with her written exam she felt that though she might not get top marks, she had done reasonably well.

And as she was taking six ZH's, the chanting having crept in as an extra subject beside the normally permitted top number of five, she did not feel she was doing badly at all.

One could not count the Asimov twins taking six subjects after all; and they had, moreover, taken their chanting a year early. It was just that they expected to get 'O' in all of them, and Desolina would be happy to get her three best subjects at 'O' and pass the rest. And she thought she had done better than passes at that!

That was the ZH's out of the way.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Those taking the ZP included Zyrillis, Wencelada, Axel and Grishilde. In that year too, Eve Cherrytree was looking forward to the exams with a lot more equanimity than she might have expected. Having an ambition and a reason to bother to work really did make a difference! Her parents might be uncomprehending about why Eve should want to teach, and in Spain of all places, but accepted that she wanted to teach with a schoolfriend whose mother had started a small school.

Eve did not mention that she would be teaching predominantly goblins. Her parents would veto the idea, and she would be lucky not to end up betrothed to someone they considered suitable and married before she could protest. In their eyes, Eve might be filling in by teaching – a fairly 'naice' profession – while she waited for Mr Right to come along, but Eve had a fancy that she might not even bother to get married at all.

The chanting practical being over, the ZP students would next be taking the Divination OWL along with those in the combined sixth who had wanted to take it. This was Zlatka, Adelard, and Hasso Langbessen in the upper form, and Xanthe, and Yorick in the lower form together with Zyrillis, Grishilde, Axel and Eve. Like Eve, Axel and Grishilde were never expecting to take high marks, but felt it worth pursuing any even minor talent. Only Zyrillis bothered to try to use a crystal ball, and he burst out laughing, to the consternation of the examiner and informed the examiner, between gales of mirth, that the Sons of Zirnitra – or at least a bunch of hairy Russians who might be assumed to be Sons of Zirnitra since their pure blood made them afraid to cut their beards in case they bled – were in for a shock.

"Er, in what way?" asked the examiner. He was a lot more confident since the ugly mole on his face had been magically erased the previous year by Erica Malfoy's art in magic skills, and was impressed that these students from Durmstrang did at least seem to be taking Divination more seriously than had been customary at Hogwarts.

"Well they seem to be trying to raise great form spirits, if I know anything about demonology at all," said Zyrillis, "to send against the school. Haven't they figured out that we have a fey exclusion zone as solid as can be?"

This was so prosaic that the examiner wondered for a moment whether the boy was making it up; but then, those who were making things up usually tried to sound thrilling rather than matter-of-fact; and there had been the quite genuine sounding chuckles of mirth.

He became even more convinced when Zlatka frowned and told him, with her globe of the world and divining rods, that they hadn't heard the last of the idiots from Russia, and since he had not heard anything about idiots from Russia until Zyrillis mentioned them, he asked for a resume. Zlatka cheerfully gave it and absently added her opinion that he might want to avoid Glasgow.

Adelhard managed to produce a reading that involved children and sickness, and the examiner was beginning to wish he had not volunteered to take his great nieces and nephews to the funfare in Glasgow.

Even Eve managed to tell him that a northern town promised misery.

The examiner retired, gloomy, from the exam.

oOoOo

The written exam for the divination was no real hardship, involving the interpretation of dreams, and a selection of other portents, including those of the heavenly bodies. The group was glad of the grounding in astronomy they had received and wrote knowledgeably, even though more than one privately doubted that the movement of heavenly bodies had any bearing on earthly events beyond the proven effect the moon's phases might have. Fraulein Pippin knew the form of the exam very well of course and they were all well prepared.

How well they did might affect whether or not Divination was continued as a subject, which was some slight extra strain, but as Zlatka had pointed out dryly when Adelard brought this up, the combined efforts of the school diviners had helped in an attack on the school and had saved a little girl's life and even if they all took 'T' in the exam, the governors would be idiots not to take that into account. Adelard's pessimism was pacified.

Xantippe pounded her twin on the shoulder after the exam and told her that she could predict one thing, and that was that Xanthe had written too much. Xantippe had no divining skills but she did have the rare talent of place sense, the ability to feel where ley lines and nodes were, which was, both Nanerl Schwefel and Salvia Pippin had agreed, an expression of a form of divination but more usefully pursued in Geomancy than in a subject that made Xantippe giggle.

As Xantippe was a clever girl likely to get bored when she had no real talent, Salvia was glad the twins were happy not to be together for the sake of it; Xantippe was likely to write such nonsense as predicting that the moon rising in Canis Major meant that Remus Lupin was about to have a mad homosexual affair with Sirius Black or something equally disconcerting. She might not be expected to make such a connection outside of Hogwarts but Salvia had a strong suspicion that most Marauders knew most things about most other Marauders and Xantippe was outspoken enough to come up with even more outrageous comments than the normal old chestnut that perturbations in Uranus led to needing a plumber to unblock the drains.

oOoOo

The compulsory examinations passed off according to their normal forms; the practicals of Charms, Transfigurations and Dark Arts were so standard that everyone knew what to expect though potions might be expected to vary. In the Charms exam, the demonstration of locomotor charms, colour change charms and size change charms were all tackled with aplomb, and only Zyrillis forgot himself so far in the written as to write about extrinsic alteration in his definition of a charm as a spell that made an object perform in a way that one might not expect it to perform with the alteration being purely to its behaviour not its intrinsic nature. He forgot this was a ZH term. Equally in Transfigurations there were amongst the upper end of the class no difficulties with switching charms, Eve being delighted to switch the contents of two bowls not merely the two bowls _in toto,_ switching charms having been a speciality of Prince Peak, and Krait Malfoy-Snape's lectures a good grounding to avoid any irritation from hot tempered Attila Nagy. Nor were there any problems in turning a tortoise into a toad, though the use of the assimilative correlation by nomenclature in German had taken Eve a while to get used to, even though she did not know that ZH level term, and her toad did try to withdraw into a shell it no longer had. Her tortoise to box transfiguration was plain, but at least her box did not aggressively pursue the examiner as Hortensia Slukstrup's did.

The Dark Arts practical was briefly interrupted by the desk on fowl's legs trying to join in until Zyrillis threatened to complete its transfiguration into a chicken and wring its neck to serve for supper.

The desk retired bested and sulked in a corner for the rest of the exams.

Naturally all the desks for the exams were those without fowl's legs, to prevent the feral animated one lurking and pretending to be harmless until a point where it could cause most disruption. Zyrillis explained to Herr Bergen, the Dark Arts examiner, that he suspected that having been foiled of this game, the desk had been looking for other sources of amusement.

The four blooded enjoyed their Dark Arts exam, defending against jinxes and casting them for themselves and with the choice of the shoes, the hat or the necklace to curse came up with rather more interesting solutions than the perennial ever-dancing shoes, headache-causing hat and garrotting necklace. As it happened, all four picked the shoes. Wencelada made them walk purposefully towards the sea and into it, Grishilde made them turn the wearer's feet into duck's feet, Axel made the shoes play music by the American wizarding jazz musician Clovis Fortembras with the tongues of the shoes mimicking his gravely voice and Zyrillis made them grow into stilts. Eve was not in the same league but even so she managed to curse the hat to first blindfold its victim by dropping over the eyes then spin them around so they were left, still blindfolded, facing a random direction.

Eve thought that so long as it was kept well supervised, learning the Dark Arts was more appropriate for teenagers than learning DADA, to be able to let off steam with creative jinx work, since with the teaching that Dark Wizards were losers, this made an insistence on the defensive arts something any sensible student would learn, rather than being taught that the Dark Arts as a whole were wrong. The level of curses most people were managing at this level were scarcely more than corridor curses anyway.

In this Eve perhaps missed the point that she had specified in her own mind, as though it were a matter of course, the concept of the lesson being well supervised, and the teaching within it that Dark Wizards were losers as a given. She did acknowledge that the creative spirits of the Marauders in Prince Peak had taken the place of teaching in the Dark Arts as some of those in the school would not have been able to cope with learning Dark Arts, herself included before she had come to Durmstrang. And the Marauders always accepted punishment. However it WAS fun to relieve exam nerves by jinxing a grown up and in a sanctioned way!

The potions practical required the brewing of the cure of Black Goblin Fever, Pepperup Potion and a medical potion of the candidate's choice. The potions were not difficult; the test came in performing three brewings within the time limit, as it meant careful use of time, and swift choice of ingredients. Wencelada made a mental note to discuss with the others whether an emphasis on medical potions was by way of support for the new teaching hospital of St Bernard's, associated with Jade's school, Schloss Adler. The written was fairly standard but Wencelada did think that there were more questions on medical potions than might be expected.

Then the electives might begin.

The Care of Magical Beasts practical varied somewhat from year to year, and this year involved checking a flying horse's hooves, wings and tail for such infestations as chizpurfles, and separating knarls from hedgehogs. The written had a long section on dragons and a wide variety of short question. There was nothing too challenging and both Zyrillis and Eve, who were both taking the exam, felt it had gone well enough though Eve would have elected to take the Care of Domestic Magical Beasts had the English variant been available.

Only Zyrillis and Grishilde of their set were taking Ancient Runes; though Wencelada agreed that it helped with chanting, she found it rather hard, and as she was already taking nine ZPs, considered moderately ambitious indeed in Durmstrang, she did not wish to risk her grades with a tenth that she was not guaranteed to pass in any case. Grishilde was not expecting high marks but the experience was useful, she declared. She returned from the exam hoping to have passed, while Zyrillis beamed and said it was lovely.

Wencelada privately wondered whether Grishilde had taken the subject in order to be with Zyrillis; but though they were close as any blooded were, Wencelada though that they were no longer a couple. Grishilde was not in Zyrillis' academic league, and Wencelada thought he would be more likely to end up with one of the Jade Fag Marauders like Leva, who was extremely academic. Zyrillis was, after all, taking eleven ZPs.

Grishilde had at least had the sense not to try to take Arithmancy; which Wencelada had felt worth persevering with. She, Zyrillis, Axel and Eve were, however, the only members of the class to be taking it. Lower down the school more pupils were taking it as an elective, but their year was still infected by the awful grounding by Fraulein Meyer. Indeed, Wencelada doubted that she would have chosen it as an elective had not Jade Snape made much of how important it was!

Wencelada and Zyrillis were the only ones of their set taking Enchanting, which formed a link between Charms and Chanting. It was a subject in which Zyrillis considered himself weak, rarely rising above an 'E' grade in class. Wencelada was quite happy to be an overall 'E' average student on the whole but with her three best subjects, Potions, Dark Arts and Chanting rising to 'O' most of the time. There were no real surprises in having to write about the symmetry of choice of appropriate materials to take charms, with a practical involving enchanting items that had become almost as standard as the Charms exam.

Grishilde, Zyrillis and Axel were the three taking the new Geomancy exam; and here Grishilde shone. Her theory work was very solid and the time she took to return from whence she was taken was very fast. Like Xantippe she had the Place Sense talent and was glad to use it, though she did have some divinational ability too.

Wencelada's next exam was with Axel and Eve, being Herbology. Repotting bouncing bulbs, gathering bubotuber pus and pruning shrivelfig passed without too much incident – Eve ended up with a black eye from one of her bulbs, Axel sported a few pustules and Wencelada had a broken finger from her bulbs – and the written was by comparison quite relaxing.

The last exam for the group was history, and Wencelada, Grishilde and Axel might not hope for top marks but did hope to pass well with Herr Ijas' teaching a vast improvement on that of Frau Fabeln. This involved a double paper, with a long essay question and a paper of short questions; the latter of which could be chosen from 'the French sphere' 'the German sphere' or 'eastern Europe'. The long essay was chosen from three. Axel chose for his essay 'compare the traditions of the Goths and the Franks and estimate how much the synthesis of cultures has influenced modern wizarding society' and chose to take it into the realms of different traditions of the way goblins were perceived and treated; Wencelada chose 'Chart the factors that permitted the rise to prominence of Gellert Grindelwald' because she thought it was important; and Grishilde chose 'Chart the moving borders due to Muggle religious wars and explain why the Statute of Secrecy led to the fact that Muggle and Wizarding state borders are different.'

They all chose the short paper on the German Sphere as Lazlo Ijas had found it easier with a fairly small class to stick to one sphere.

And that meant the exams were over.

oOoOo

The examiners were quite as astonished as anyone else when the cakes that concluded the end-of-exam feast had a quite unexpected effect.

As most people ate them at much the same time the effect was almost universal as the first mouthful began digesting; and the unfortunate recipients grew feathers, briefly became crows, cawed a few times then moulted drastically and became humans again with the moult.

"Goodness!" said the English examiner of Divination, mildly. "You appear to have a German version of canary custards. More dignified to be crows, I have to say. Enterprising of somebody."

"Good of you to take it so well" said Agata dryly.

"My dear lady! How else is one to take a harmless jape?" said he. "Only a boor would take serious offence; your potions mistress must be proud of such enterprise."

This neatly whipped the carpet from underneath the feet of those examiners who HAD considered taking offence.

"There are worse things to be than crows" said Cacilia, dryly. "Shall I have the little horrors cleaning cauldrons, Agata?"

"Yes, as you think appropriate" said Agata, rising. She used a sonorous spell. "The authors of these cakes are on their honour not to eat any other cakes at Abendessen and will report to Fraulein Von Freyer to clean cauldrons for her."

The Jade Fag Marauders grinned. They were happy to help Cacilia out in any case; and the tone of caws and looks on the faces of the recently ornithological subjects had been priceless.

oOoOo

The Jade Fag Marauders dragged Antoinette along to clean cauldrons with them.

"But I didn't take part in your silly jape!" she complained.

"No, but you don't have to do the scrubbing bit" said Leva "Only it's kinda fun doing things together and we thought you needed to be given a bit of fun and to learn by watching how friends do friend sort of things and why we're loyal to each other and none of us would wriggle out of doing the honourable thing of joining in wholeheartedly because we all joined in the jape wholeheartedly and you don't let friends down, and actually we'd all take the blame even if one of us had been unable to help with the cake cooking for – for being ill or something, because we'd have meant to have been in on it. Do you understand?" she added coming up for air. Being a fine chanter she had actually got through the whole sentence in one breath.

"I'm not sure" said Antoinette. "How can scrubbing cauldrons be fun?"

"Oh, it's not the scrubbing cauldrons, it's doing stuff together," said Elfleda, "and talking about what we might do for japes next term except of course we can't."

"Why not?" asked Antoinette.

"It's a rule of Marauders that when you go into the fifth year you are too old for japes and must concentrate on schoolwork and fighting dark wizards – if there are any available" said Elfleda "Which there may not be."

"Oh there will!" said Sofie cheerfully. "My brother laid cards that threatened trouble from the north and south and lots of people predicted things – Zyrillis went off on a trance nearly about the Sons of Zirnitra sending Great Form Fey!"

"Spiffing!" said Kjell, who had started reading English muggle boys school stories of the 1920's. "We get to practice all our best chanting on them then!"

"Not hardly" said Leva "They'll hit the fey exclusion line and bounce so hard they won't have a pseudo body for about a century."

There was a long, disappointed silence.

"Do you people actually WANT to fight dark wizards then?" demanded Antoinette.

"I'll say! Why should the English have all the sport?" said Elfleda.

"Anyway, don't you want to fight Achille and get back at him?" said Sofie.

"Yes. Yes I do" said Antoinette, lifting her chin.

"Then you need to join the English Customs Club and learn the mysteries of English defences and higher magic" said Leva, firmly "Like running to keep fit to sustain spells longer."

"Can it be so simple?" asked Antoinette.

"It is not simple a first" said Sofie "It is hard work; but perseverance pays off. And then one can easily deflect jinxes without word or wand and without working up a sweat."

"Like you did to me" said Antoinette looking at Leva.

"That's past" said Leva "But one way you CAN fight Achille is by writing an apology to those you did burn – you can explain that you have had a compulsion to hurt removed from you and that you are sorry that you were used, and tell them that the reason was to try to force them to leave and urging them not to let any similar tool he might send force them into giving in. We'll help you."

"And," said Cacilia, walking in, "as I think that's more important than scrubbing cauldrons, I'll let you off that and permit you to use the dungeon to work in – providing you give me your word of honour to brew nothing more potent than hot chocolate."

"We may make hot chocolate? You are spiffing, Cacilia!" said Kjell.

She laughed.

"My first name is not yours when you are technically on punishment, Kjell!" she said. "Though I suppose it is Marauder business. Wash the mugs and cauldron afterwards."

"Zut alors!" said Antoinette when Cacilia had gone "I thought she was cold and hard!"

"She can be to slackers and the beastlies" said Sofie. "But you're going to work like stink to be hard enough to slap that silly sun king in his silly face and you got over being beastly because you know how silly it is now you've been dejinxed."

Put like that Antoinette could only really nod agreement. She did not like goblins or mudbloods but on the other hand she was very angry at having someone control how much she was to hate someone – and was inclined to be contrary enough to be at least more neutral!

Somehow she felt she was being carried along by a rather inexorable tide of Marauders – but at least they were honest with her.

And she DID want to be hard enough to slap Achille Villeneuve's face. And to make her peace with the part goblins and the mudblood girl and show them that she would not make enemies to order of a man inside her head!

Antoinette had gained a cause.

And the Jade Fag Marauders who had pushed her into it sighed inaudibly in relief that she was entirely sorted as a problem so long as they kept her on a short leash when Villeneuve got involved.

Well if he was busy following the clues the other Marauders were laying for him seeking a non-existent treasure – non-existent outside of the brilliant imagination of Lilith Snape and clever artificing of several others that was – they should at least get Antoinette Labellette through her ZPs before he managed to try to interfere in Germany.

And there were a few weeks of term to start getting Antoinette fit in the ECC, and to impress on her the importance of keeping up her exercises over the holidays.

Marauders were on it and all was going well.


End file.
